DATA INTEGRATION IN BIOLOGICAL MODELS

P. Mariño, F. P. Fontán, M. A. Domínguez and S. Otero

Biological research in agriculture needs a lot of specialized electronic sensors in order to fulfill different goals, like as: climate monitoring, soil and fruit assessment, control of insects and diseases, chemical pollutants, identification and control of weeds, crop tracking, and so on. That research must be supported by consistent biological models able to simulate diverse environmental conditions, in order to predict the right human actions before risky biological damage could be irreversible. In this paper is described an experimental distributed network based on climatic an biological wireless sensors, for providing real measurements in order to validate different biological models used for viticulture applications. Firstly is introduced the experimental network for field automatic data acquisition, as a system based in a distributed process. Following, the design of the wireless network is explained in detail, with a previous discussion about the state-of-the-art, and some measurements for viticulture research are pointed out. Finally future developments are stated.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR XML SCHEMA MAPPING

Myriam Lamolle, Amar Zerdazi and Ludovic Menet

Today’s web-based applications and web services publish their data using XML, as this helps interoperability with other applications and services. The heterogeneity of XML data has led to recent research in schema matching, schema transformation, and schema integration for XML. In this paper, we propose an approach for mapping integration for XML schema. The basic idea is to drive direct as well as complex matches with their associated transformation operations from the computed element similarities. The representation of a mapping element in a source-to-target mapping clearly declares both the semantics correspondences as well as the access paths to access and load data from source into a target schema. We detail our mapping generation process and proceed in four steps to specify a formal representation of a source-to-target mapping in order to discover structural mappings between XML schemas.

DEVELOPING THE SKILLS NEEDED FOR REQUIREMENT ELICITATION IN GLOBAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Miguel Romero, Aurora Vizcaíno and Mario Piattini

The requirement elicitation stage is that which is most critical in the development of a software product. However, this stage is not taught to the required depth, nor is time often invested in training students and practitioners in these tasks. There is currently a trend towards global software development (GSD) which complicates the process of elicitation requirements since, for instance, communication is more difficult because stakeholders are geographically distributed. Moreover, the elicitation in GSD involves a variety of characteristics that are not often taught in software engineering courses. This paper presents some of the most important factors which may affect elicitation in GSD. Furthermore, we propose techniques with which to help students and software engineers to develop some of the skills needed to carry out the elicitation process in GSD.

EMBEDDING XPATH QUERIES INTO SPARQL QUERIES

Matthias Droop, Markus Flarer, Jinghua Groppe, Sven Groppe, Volker Linnemann, Jakob Pinggera, Florian Santner, Michael Schier, Felix Schöpf, Hannes Staffler and Stefan Zugal

While XPath is an established query language developed by W3C for XML, SPARQL is a new query language developed by W3C for RDF data. Comparisons between the data models of XML and RDF and between the query languages XPath and SPARQL are missing. XML and XPath are older recommendations of the W3C than RDF and SPARQL and thus, currently more XML data and XPath queries are used in applications, but recently available SPARQL query evaluators do not deal with XML data and XPath queries. We have developed a prototype for translating XML data into RDF data and embedding XPath queries into SPARQL queries for the following two reasons: 1) We want to compare the XPath and XQuery data model with the RDF data model and the XPath query language with the SPARQL query language in order to show similarities and differences. 2) We want to enable SPARQL query evaluators to handle with XML data and XPath queries in order to support XPath processing and SPARQL processing in parallel. We have developed a prototype for the source-to-source translations from XML data into RDF data and from XPath queries into SPARQL queries. We have run experiments to measure the execution times of the translations, of XPath queries and their translated SPARQL queries.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ALGEBRA FOR QUERYING WEB DATA SOURCES

Iztok Savnik

The paper presents the implementation of query execution system Qios. It serves as a lightware system for the manipulation of XML data. Qios employs the relational technology for query processing. The main aim in the implementation is to provide a querying system that is easy to use and does not require any additional knowledge about the internal representation of data. The system provides robust and simple solutions for many design problems. We aimed to simplify the internal structures of query processors rooted in the design of relational and object-relational query processors. We propose efficient internal data structures for the representation of queries during all phases of query execution. The query optimization is based on dynamic programming and uses beam search to reduce the time complexity. The data structure for storing queries provides efficient representation of queries during the optimization process and the simple means to explore plan caching. Finally, main memory indices can be created on-the-fly to support the evaluation ofqueries.

A PROPOSAL OF SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR MULTIPLATFORM ENVIRONMENT APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT - A QUANTITATIVE STUDY

André Luiz de Oliveira, André Luis Andrade Menolli and Ricardo Gonçalves Coelho

Due to the problems caused by the increase crescent in the complexity and dimension of the software systems, becomes need the software patterns and beginnings adoption to work with those problems. For this reason, the software architecture appears as new discipline in the Software Engineering field that is already being applied thoroughly in several areas. However there is a proposals shortage of the addressed architectures to multiplatform systems development. In this work it is proposed a software architecture for development of those systems. The project of that architecture model is based in the Data Access Object, Facade and Singleton patterns. The validation process of that architecture model used the three layer software architecture model as evaluation parameter, in which its was developed a quantitative assessment of two implementations of an application, one using the three layer architecture model and other using the proposed model. This study used strong software engineering attributes, such as separation of concerns, coupling, cohesion and size like evaluation criteria. As results, its was verified that the adoption of the architecture model presented in this work provides a better separation concerns presents in the application components, in relation to the implementation using the three layer architecture model.

NETWORK EXTERNALITIES FOR ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SOFTWARE - A RESEARCH ROADMAP

Georg Peters, Florian Thoma and Richard Weber

Presently the ERP software market is characterized by a fierce competition of some of the largest software producers of the world. While SAP tries to defend its position as the market leader, Oracle, founded as database vendor, has heavily invested into its ERP business by taking over large related software producers like Peoplesoft or Siebel. Microsoft also bought ERP vendors as a basis for its MBS (Microsoft Business Solution) division. IBM and Sage are further players in the multi-billion market of ERP software. Currently the market faces two big challenges. (1) The classic ERP market addressing large corporations has become mature and is characterized by growth through displacement today. However the ERP market for SME still promises big growth rates. (2) The classic monolithic ERP systems are presently replaced by new middleware based technologies that provide open platforms to easily integrate business applications of third party software producers. Network externalities will significantly influence which ERP vendor(s) will dominate the future market. Therefore we will qualitatively analyse the current strengths and weaknesses of the presently most promising ERP producer with respect to network externalities.

RESOURCE AGGREGATION IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES - STATIC VS DYNAMIC PROTOCOLS

Pedro Almeida, Marco Fernandes, Joaquim Arnaldo Martins and Joaquim Sousa Pinto

This article analyses development of static and dynamic protocols to aggregate metadata and resources from heterogeneous systems. In particular, it compares the advantages and drawbacks of both types of protocols and presents a case study of the University of Aveiro Information System as an example of the possibilities of dynamic resource aggregation systems.

A LOCKING PROTOCOL FOR DOM API ON XML DOCUMENTS

Yin-Fu Huang and Mu-Liang Guo

In this paper, we developed a new DOM API locking protocol (DLP) that adopts the DOM structure for locking. In order to enhance the concurrency and system performance, we studied operation conflicts more detailedly. The proposed DLP supports more update operations than the others, and does not imply more locking costs. Finally, we conducted several experiments to compare with the others and to observe the DLP performance under different workload parameters.

SQS - A SECURE XML QUERYING SYSTEM

Wei Li and Cindy Chen

Contemporary XML database querying systems have to deal with a rapidly growing amount of data and a large number of users. As a consequence, if access control is used to protect sensitive XML data at a fine-grained level, it is inefficient when it comes to query evaluation, since it is difficult to enforce access control on each node in an XML document when the user's view needs to be computed. We design and develop a secure XML querying system, namely SQS, where caching is used to store query results and security information. Depending on whether there is a cache hit, user queries are rewritten into secure system queries that are executed either on the cached query results or on the original XML document. We propose a new cache replacement policy LSL, which updates the cache based on the security level of each entry. We also demonstrate the performance of the system.

AN IMPLEMENTATION OF XML DATA INTEGRATION

Weidong Pan, Jixue Liu and Jiashen Tian

Data integration is essential for building modern enterprise information systems. This paper investigates the implementation of XML data integration through transforming XML data from different data sources into a common global schema. Following the work our research group has done earlier, this paper is focused on the implementation of XML data transformation operations. At the first, the proposed methodology to realize XML data integration is sketched. Then, the representation of an XML DTD and document and other related concepts for transforming XML data are presented. The transforming operations defined by a set of operators are outlined focusing on the required functionality for data integration. Building upon these, the implementation of the data transformation operations is investigated. The current implementation is reported with a simplified example illustrating how the methodology can be used in practical enterprise integration applications.

SOFTWARE MEASUREMENT BY USING QVT TRANSFORMATIONS IN AN MDA CONTEXT

Beatriz Mora, Félix García, Francisco Ruiz, Mario Piattini, Artur Boronat, Abel Gómez, José Á. Carsí and Isidro Ramos

At present the objective of obtaining quality software products has led to the necessity of carrying out good software processes management in which measurement is a fundamental factor. Due to the great diversity of entities involved in software measurement, a consistent framework is necessary to integrate the different entities in the measurement process. In this work a Software Measurement Framework (SMF) is presented to measure any type of software entity. In this framework, any software entity in any domain could be measured with a common Software Measurement metamodel and QVT transformations. This work explains the three fundamental elements of the Software Measurement Framework (conceptual architecture, technological aspects and method). These elements have all been adapted to the MDE paradigm and to MDA technology, taking advantage of their benefits within the field of software measurement. An example which illustrates the framework’s application to a concrete domain is furthermore shown.

ODDI - A FRAMEWORK FOR SEMI-AUTOMATIC DATA INTEGRATION

Paolo Ceravolo, Ernesto Damiani, Marcello Leida, Zhan Cui and Alex Gusmini

Data Integration systems are used to integrate heterogeneous data sources in a single view. Recent works on Business Intelligence do highlight the need of on-time, trustable and sound data access systems. This require for method based on a semi-automatic procedure that can provide reliable results. A crucial factor for any semi automatic algorithm is based on the matching operators implemented. Different categories of matching operators carry different semantics. For this reason combining them in a single algorithm is a non trivial process that have to take into account a variety of options. This paper proposes a solution based on a categorization of marching operators that allow to group similar attributes on a semantic rich form. This way we define all the information need in order to create a mapping. Then Mapping Generation is activated only on those set of elements that can be queried without violating any integrity constraints on data.

DYNAMIC SEMI-MARKOVIAN WORKLOAD MODELING

Nima Sharifimehr and Samira Sadaoui

In this paper, we introduce a novel Markovian model which is an intuitive combination of Semi-Markov and Dynamic Markov models. The proposed model is designed with the intention to be an efficient statistical modeling tool to capture both actions intervals patterns and sequential behavioral patterns. We show the applicability of our approach to model workload of enterprise application servers. Furthermore, a formal definition of this model and detailed algorithms for its implementation are illustrated. This prepares a firm ground for academic researchers to investigate other possible applications. Also, we present evaluation results to prove the accuracy of our novel dynamic semi-Markov model.

MODEL-DRIVEN GENERATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF COMPLEX INTEGRATION PROCESSES

Matthias Boehm, Uwe Wloka, Dirk Habich and Wolfgang Lehner

The integration of heterogeneous systems is still one of the main challenges in the area of data management. Due to the trend towards heterogeneous system environments, the service integration gains in importance. This has been the reason for several extensions to the database technology in order to achieve the interoperability requirements. Further, the different levels of integration approaches result in a large number of different integration systems. Due to these proprietary solutions and the lack of a standard for data-intensive integration processes, the model-driven development—following the paradigm of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA)—is advantageous. This paper contributes to the model-driven development of complex and data-intensive integration processes. In addition, optimization possibilities offered by this model-driven approach are illustrated, and first evaluation results correlated to our optimization strategies are discussed.

MESSAGE INDEXING FOR DOCUMENT-ORIENTED INTEGRATION PROCESSES

Matthias Boehm, Uwe Wloka, Dirk Habich and Wolfgang Lehner

The integration of heterogeneous systems is still an evolving research area. Due to the complexity of integration processes, there are challenges for the optimization of integration processes. Message-based integration systems, like EAI servers and workflow process engines, are mostly document-oriented using XML technologies in order to achieve suitable data independence from the different and particular proprietary data representations of the supported external systems. However, such an approach causes large costs for single-value evaluations within the integration processes. At this point, message indexing, adopting extended database technologies, could be applied in order to reach better performance. In this paper, we introduce our message indexing structure MIX and discuss and evaluate immediate as well as deferred indexing concepts. Further, we describe preliminary adaptive index tuning techniques.

A MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM BASED ON ORACLE TECHNOLOGIES

Liana Stanescu, Dumitru Dan Burdescu, Cosmin Stoica Spahiu, Anca Ion and Cristian Guran

The paper presents an information system based on Oracle technologies (Oracle Database, Oracle interMedia and Oracle JDeveloper) dedicated for managing and querying medical multimedia databases. The database contains images related to the internal medicine area. This on-line application allows creation of complex medical files of patients that can be viewed and updated both by internist and general practitioner. The main functions of the application are: managing patients contact information, examinations, imagery and content-based visual query using color, texture and shape characteristics. It can be used in individual offices, laboratories or in the hospital clinics and departments. The application provides security and confidentiality for patient’s data.

A GENERATIVE APPROACH TO IMPROVE THE ABSTRACTION LEVEL TO BUILD APPLICATIONS BASED ON THE NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES IN DATABASES

J. R. Coz, R. Heradio Gil, J. A. Cerrada Somolinos and J. C. López Ruiz

This paper highlights the benefits, in terms of quality, productivity and time-to-market, of applying a generative approach to increase the abstraction level to build applications based on the notification of changes in databases. Most of the database management systems maintain meta-tables with information about all stored tables; this information is used in an automatic process to define the software product line (SPL) variability. The remaining variability can be specified by means of domain specific languages. Code generators can automatically query the meta-tables, analyze the input specifications and configure the current product. The paper also introduces the Exemplar Driven Development process to incrementally develop code generators and the Exemplar Flexibilization Language that supports the process implementation.

ERP TRENDS - MOBILE APLICATIONS AND PORTAL

Octavian Dospinescu, Doina Fotache, Bogdanel Adrian Munteanu and Luminiţa Hurbean

Given the business globalization, complete integration is a major goal of information resource management. The applications and data are combined in integrated entities providing not only access to information, but also internal and external economic process management. The first case refers to organizational internal processes and is achieved with ERP packages. External integration concerns customer and supply chain connection to the organizational environment for the performance of economic processes and it cannot be achieved if there is no internal information coherence (an ERP system). In the last decade, ERP has continued to expand, blurring the boundaries of the core system. The number of modules and the extended functionality offered in the ERP suites have progressively grown making integration a greater challenge for the enterprise. Simultaneously, the market trends – consolidation, verticalization and specialization – have a broader effect than just on ERP. Also, wireless applications provide new opportunities for organizations, enabling access to relevant information from anywhere and at anytime. In order to take advantage from the features of ubiquitous environment, ERP systems have to support the mobile behaviour of their users. The present paper is an exploratory analysis of the current stage regarding the mobile applications and services for companies, the achievements in the field and proposes an architecture model for the mobile services starting from the necessary unidentified functionalities for a portal of mobile services. Besides the general architecture of a portal of mobile applications for companies, a set of minimal functionalities for implementation is proposed in order to ensure the promotion and use of services.

INTEGRATING LABOR SKILLS CERTIFICATION WITH TRADITIONAL TRAINING FOR ELECTRIC POWER OPERATORS

R. Molina, I. Paredes, M. Domínguez, L. Argotte and N. Jácome

In this paper the integration of a traditional training system with a competence management model is conceptually described. The resulting e-system is accessed through powerful Web interfaces and contains a comprehensive database that maintains information of the two models. The traditional model emphasizes the contractual worker training rights and the skills model the alignment of the human talent with the mission and objectives of the company. The paper describes the specific traditional training model of CFE (Federal Commission of Electricity), its competences model and the integration of the two models following a thematic contents approach.

AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR MANAGERIAL AND PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Daniel Antonio Callegari, Maurício Covolan Rosito, Marcelo Blois Ribeiro and Ricardo Melo Bastos

Software organizations are constantly looking for better solutions when designing and using well-defined software processes for the development of their products and services. However, many software development processes lack for more support on project management issues. This work proposes a model that integrates the concepts of the PMBOK and those available on RUP, helping not only process integration but also assisting managers in the decision making process during project planning. We present the model and the results from a qualitative exploratory evaluation of a tool that implements the proposed model, conducted with project managers from nine companies.

EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ERP SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION COSTS IN SWISS SMES

Catherine Equey, Rob J. Kusters, Sacha Varone and Nicolas Montandon

Based on sparse literature investigating the cost of ERP systems implementation, our research uses data from a survey of Swiss SMEs having implemented ERP in order to test cost drivers. The main innovation is the proposition of a new classification of cost drivers that depend on the enterprise itself, rather than on ERP. Particular attention is given to consulting fees as a major factor of implementation cost and a new major cost driver has come to light. “Consultant experience”, not previously mentioned as such in literature, appears as an important aspect of ERP implementation cost. Particular attention must be paid to this factor by the ERP implementation project manager.

DISCOVERING VEILED UNSATISFIABLE XPATH QUERIES

Jinghua Groppe and Volker Linnemann

The satisfiability problem of queries is an important determinant in query optimization. The application of a satisfiability test can avoid the submission and the unnecessary evaluation of unsatisfiable queries, and thus save processing time and query costs. If an XPath query does not conform to the constraints in a given schema, or the constraints of an XPath query itself are inconsistent with each other, the evaluation of the query will return an empty result for any valid XML document, and thus the query is unsatisfiable. Therefore, we propose a schema-based approach to filtering XPath queries not conforming to the constraints in the schema and XPath queries with conflicting constraints. We present a complexity analysis of our approach, which proves that our approach is efficient at typical cases. We present an experimental analysis of our developed prototype, which shows the optimization potential of avoiding the evaluation of unsatisfiable queries.

A SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY IN DATABASE

Maria Madalena Dias, Lúcio Gerônimo Valentim and José Rafael Carvalho

Currently, most of the companies have computational systems to provide support to the operational routines. Many times, those systems are not integrated, thus generating duplicated and inconsistent information. Such situation makes difficult the search for necessary and trustworthy information for decision-making. Technologies of data warehousing and data mining have appeared to solve that type of problem. Many existing solutions do not enclose those two technologies; some of them are directed to the construction of a data warehouse and others to the application of data mining techniques. There are OLAP tools that do not enclose the activities of preparation of data. Th4is paper presents a reference architecture and a software architecture that define the components necessary for implementation of knowledge discovery systems in database including activities of data warehouse and data mining. Some standards of best practices in projects and in software development were used since the definition until the implementation.

IMPROVING SOFTWARE TEST STRATEGY WITH A METHOD TO SPECIFY TEST CASES (MSTC)

Edumilis Méndez, María Pérez and Luis E. Mendoza

An interesting difference between tests and other disciplines of the software development process is that they constitute a task that essentially identifies and evidences the weaknesses of the software product. Four relevant elements are considered when defining tests namely, reliability, cost, time and quality. Time and cost shall increase to the extent reliable tests and quality software are desired, but what does it take to make actors understand that tests should be seen as a security network? If quality is not there before starting the tests, it will not be there upon their completion. Accordingly, how can we lay out a trace between tests and functional and non-functional requirements of the software system? This Article is aimed at proposing a method that allows for specifying test cases based on use cases, by incorporating elements to verify and validate traceability among requirements management, analysis & design, and tests. This initiative originated as a response to the request of a software developing company of the Venezuelan public sector.

DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM FOR DISCOVERING SIMILAR DOCUMENTS - FROM A RELATIONAL DATABASE TO THE CUSTOM-DEVELOPED PARALLEL SOLUTION

Jan Kasprzak, Michal Brandejs, Miroslav Křipač and Pavel Šmerk

One of the drawbacks of e-learning methods such as Web-based submission and evaluation of students' papers and essays is that it has become easier for students to plagiarize the work of other people. In this paper we present a computer-based system for discovering similar documents, which has been in use at Masaryk University in Brno since August 2006, and which will also be used in the forthcoming Czech national archive of graduate theses. We also focus on practical aspects of this system: achieving near real-time response to newly imported documents, and computational feasibility of handling large sets of documents on commodity hardware. We also show the possibilities and problems with parallelization of this system for running on a distributed cluster of computers.

ARCHITECTURE FOR END USER-DRIVEN COMPOSITION OF UNDERSPECIFIED, HUMAN-CENTRIC BUSINESS PROCESSES

Todor Stoitsev, Stefan Scheidl, Felix Flentge and Max Mühlhäuser

Enterprises are constantly struggling to optimize their business processes in order to gain competitive advantage and to survive in the fast evolving global market. Often, the only ones to understand the matter and complexity of these processes are the people, who actually execute them. This raises the need for novel business process management approaches, which can enable business users to proactively express process knowledge and to participate in the business process management and design according to their actual expertise and problem solving strategies. The presented paper describes an architecture, which supports a framework for end user-driven composition and management of underspecified, human-centric business processes. The solution builds up on email-integrated task management and enables dynamic generation of decentralized-emerging process structures through web service-based activity tracking. The captured process execution examples are shared in central enterprise repositories for further adaptation and reuse. This enables “seeding, evolutionary growth, and reseeding” of user-defined, weakly-structured process models towards global best-practice definitions.

A STUDY OF DATA QUALITY ISSUES IN MOBILE TELECOM OPERATORS

Naiem Khodabandhloo Yeganeh and Shazia Sadiq

Telecommunication operators currently servicing mobile users world-wide have dramatically increased in the last few years. Although most of the operators use similar technologies and equipment provided by world leaders in the field such as Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens, Motorola, etc, it can be observed that many vendors utilize propriety methods and processes for maintaining network status and collecting statistical data for detailed monitoring of network elements. This data forms their competitive differentiation and hence is extremely valuable for the organization. However, in this paper we will demonstrate through a case study based on a GSM operator in Iran, how this mission critical data can be fraught with serious data quality problems, leading to diminished capacity to take appropriate action and ultimately achieve customer satisfaction. We will further present a taxonomy of data quality problems derived from the case study. A comprehensive survey of reported literature on data quality is presented in the context of the taxonomy, which can not only be utilized as a framework to classify and understand data quality problems in the telecommunication domain but can also be used for other domains with similar information systems landscapes.

OUTLINING VALUE ASSESSMENT FOR SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

Pasi Ojala

Understanding software requirements and customer needs is vital for all SW companies around the world. Lately clearly more attention has been focused also on the costs, cost-effectiveness, productivity and value of software development and products. This study outlines concepts, principles and process of implementing a value assessment for SW requirements. The main purpose of this study is to collect experiences whether the value assessment for product requirements is useful for companies, works in practice, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of using it. This is done by implementing value assessment in a case company step by step to see which phases possibly work and which phases possibly do not work. The practical industrial case shows that proposed value assessment for product requirements is useful and supports companies trying to find value in their products.

TREE EMBEDDING AND XML QUERY EVALUATION

Yangjun Chen

With the growing importance of XML in data exchange, much research has been done in providing flexible query mechanisms to extract data from XML documents. A core operation for XML query processing is to find all occurrences of a twig pattern Q (or small tree) in a document T. Prior work has typically decomposed Q into binary structural relationships, such as parent-child and ancestor-descendant relations, or root-to-leaf paths. The twig matching is achieved by: (i) matching the binary relationships or paths against XML databases, and (ii) using the join algorithms to stitch together all the matching binary relationships or paths. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for this task with no costly path joins or join-like operations involved. The time and space complexities of the algorithm are both bounded by O(|D|Þ|Q|), where D is a largest data stream associated with a node v of Q such that each u Œ D has the same element name as v. Our experiments show that our method is efficient in supporting twig pattern queries.

A FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT INTEROPERABILITY AND MULTI-CHANNEL DELIVERY AMONG HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEMS: TRAME PROJECT

Ugo Barchetti, Alberto Bucciero, Luca Mainetti and Stefano Santo Sabato

The e-commerce has become a point of strength for the companies that desire to increase their billing enlarging their clients park and reducing the management costs. Therefore the demand has been born to use platforms able to support the interoperability between heterogeneous systems and the multi-channelling with variegated devices to access different services in reliable manner and to allow, so, a spread of the market toward partner with particular needs. Furthermore, many available services have been typically designed for a single channel the web one. In a real world scenario, an ever-growing number of users take advantage of different kind of communication channel and devices. In this paper we propose a B2B oriented framework able to support the interoperability among heterogeneous systems developed according to the ebXML reference model for the business messages interchange suitable to any B2B marketplace that foresees the commercial interaction among partners with different roles and profiles (including channel and device). Such framework has been developed and experimented for the TRAME research project that has as objective to create a room of district compensation of the peaks of productive ability demands within the Textile/Clothing sector and to give the needed infrastructure for the business messages exchange among the partners of the productive spinneret.

GUI GENERATION BASED ON LANGUAGE EXTENSIONS - A MODEL TO GENERATE GUI, BASED ON SOURCE CODE WITH CUSTOM ATTRIBUTES

Marco Monteiro, Paula Oliveira and Ramiro Gonçalves

Due to data-driven application’s nature and its increasing complexity, developing its user interface can be a repetitive and time-consuming activity. Consequently, developers tend to focus more on the user interface aspects and less on business related code. In this paper, we’re presenting a novel approach to graphical user interface development for data-driven applications, that allows developers to refocus on the source code and concentrate their efforts on application’s core logic. The key concept behind our approach is the generation of concrete graphical user interface from a source code based model, which includes the original source code metadata and non-intrusive declarative language extensions that describes the user interface structure. Concrete user interface implementation will be delegated to specialized software packages, developed by external entities, that provides complete graphical user interfaces services to the application. When applying our approach on data-driven application development, we’re expecting better separation of business and presentation issues and faster graphical user interface development.

A NOVEL APPROACH TO SUPPORT CHANGE IMPACT ANALYSIS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Guenter Pirklbauer and Michael Rappl

The costs for enhancing and maintaining software systems are 75% of the total development costs. It is therefore important to provide appropriate methods, techniques and tools to support the maintenance phase of the software life cycle. One major maintenance task is the analysis and validation of change impacts. Existing approaches address change impact analysis, but using them in practice raises specific problems. Tools for change impact analysis must be able to deal with inconsistent requirements- and design-models, and with large legacy systems and systems, which are distributed across data processing centers. We have developed an approach and an evaluation framework to overcome these problems. The proposed approach combines methods of dynamic dependency analysis and change coupling analysis to detect physical and logical dependencies. The implementation of the approach - a framework consisting of methods, techniques and tools - will support both the management and developers. The goal is to detect low-level artefacts and dependencies based on only up-to-date and system-conform data, including logfiles, the service repository, the versioning system database and the change management system database. With the assistance of a data warehouse, the framework will enable dynamic querying and reporting.

SEMANTIC DATA INTEGRATION FOR PROCESS ENGINEERING DESIGN DATA

Andreas Wiesner, Jan Morbach and Wolfgang Marquardt

During the design phase of a chemical plant, information is typically created by various software tools and stored in different documents and databases. Unfortunately, the further processing of the data is often hindered by the structural, syntactic and semantic heterogeneities of the data sources. In fact the merging and consolidation of the data becomes virtually prohibitive when exclusively conventional database technologies are employed. Therefore, XML technologies as well as specific domain ontologies are increasingly applied in the context of data integration. Hence, this contribution gives an outline on an ongoing research project at the authors’ institute, which aims at the development of a prototypical software tool, which exploits the benefits of semantic as well as conventional database technologies, for the integration and consolidation of design data. Both, ontology and software development is performed in close cooperation with partners from the chemical and software industries to ensure their compliance with the requirements of industrial practice.

ERP IMPACT ON NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND PERSONNEL COSTS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES - A PANEL DATA APPROACH

Jose Esteves Sousa and Victor Bohorquez Lopez

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors have emphasized a positive impact of their ERP projects in company performance and in costs reduction. Recently, some researchers have started to analyze the impact on business performance of the organizational changes that complement IT investments. This study attempts to analyze the impact of ERP implementations in the SMEs’ number of employees and personnel costs. We have collected information of 168 Spanish SME during the period 1997-2005, concerning the type of purchased ERP, implementation period, number of employees, personnel costs and some financial indicators. We use two panel data models to compare and analyze the number of employees’ evolution and the related personnel costs, before and after ERP implementations. Our preliminary findings suggest that as bigger the SME as lower will be the decrease its number of employees. On the other hand, ERP impacts positively in personnel costs. This trend to increase personnel costs can be explained in the sense that SMEs using an ERP system need people not only with specific operative skills but also with a very holistic approach to understand and obtain maximum benefits to the ERP system.

MEASURING CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN ERP PROJECTS - RESULTS FROM A CASE STUDY IN A SME

Jos J. M. Trienekens and Pedro van Grinsven

Over the past decade many organizations are increasingly concerned with the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This counts for both large and small and medium sized companies. Implementation can be considered to be a process of change influenced by different so-called critical success factors (CSF) of type organizational, technological and human. This paper reports on the development of a measurement approach for managing CSF in an ERP implementation project in a small and medium sized company (SME). Critical success factors are being derived from project goals and subsequently measured in this project to monitor and control the implementation project.

TOWARDS A CLOSED-LOOP BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FRAMEWORK

Oscar Mangisengi and Ngoc Thanh Huynh

Bringing sense-and-respond to business intelligence systems for making decisions become essential for organizations in the foreseeable future. An existing challenge is that organizations need to make business processes as the centrepiece of their strategy to enable the processes performing at higher level and to efficiently improve these processes in the global competition. Traditional Data Warehouse and OLAP tools, which have been used for data analysis in the Business Intelligence (BI) systems, are inadequate for delivering information faster to make decisions and to earlier identify failures of a business process. In this paper we propose a closed-loop BI framework that can be used for monitoring and analyzing a business process of an organization, optimizing the business process, and reporting cost based on activities. Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) as data resource of a control system is as the heart of this framework. Furthermore, to support such a BI system, we integrate an extracting, transforming, and loading tool that works based on rules and state of business process activities. The tool can automatically transfer data into a data warehouse when conditions of rule and state have been satisfied.

INTEROPERABILITY IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

Jon Atle Gulla

The petroleum industry is a technically challenging business with highly specialized companies and complex operational structures. Several terminological standards have been introduced over the last few years, though they address particular disciplines and cannot help people collaborate efficiently across disciplines and organizational borders. This paper discusses the results from the industrally driven Integrated Information Platform project, which has developed and formalized an extensive OWL ontology for the Norwegian petroleum business. The ontology is now used in production reports, and the ontology is considered vital to semantic interoperability and the concept of integrated operations on the Norwegian continental shelf.

A GOAL METHOD FOR CONCEPTUAL DATA WAREHOUSE DESIGN

Leopoldo Zepeda, Ramon Zatarain and Matilde Celma

A Data Warehouse (DW) is a database used for analytical processing whose principal objective is to maintain and analyze historical data (Kimball, R., Ross, M). Since the introduction of multidimensional data model as modelling formalism for DW design, several techniques have been proposed to capture multidimensional data at the conceptual level. In this paper, we present a goal-oriented method for DW analysis requirements. This paper shows how goal modelling contributes to a logical scoping and analysis of the application domain to elicit the information requirements, from which the conceptual multidimensional schema is derived.

VALUE-BASED SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT - A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE ON SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Anderson Itaborahy, Káthia Marçal de Oliveira and Rildo Ribeiro dos Santos

When an organisation decides to invest in a software project it expects to get some value in return. Thus, decisions in software project management should be based on this expected value by trying to understand and influence its driver factors. However, despite the significant progress software engineering and project management has experienced in recent years, both disciplines work in a ‘value neutral’ context, by which is meant focusing on technical correctness and adherence to plans. This paper intends to contribute to a view of software project management based on business value by identifying value determinant factors in a software project and proposing some tools for recording and monitoring them. The proposed approach will be tested in a real project, in order to evaluate its applicability and usefulness in decision-making.

INTRA-ORGANISATIONAL ERP LIFECYCLE KNOWLEDGE ISSUES

Greg Timbrell

A study of 27 ERP systems in the Queensland Government revealed 41 issues clustered into seven major issue categories. Two of these categories described intra- and inter-organisational knowledge-related issues. This paper describes and discusses the intra-organisational knowledge issues arising from this research. These intra-organisational issues include insufficient knowledge in the user base, ineffective staff and knowledge retention strategies, inadequate training method and management, inadequate helpdesk knowledge resources, and finally, under-resourced helpdesk. When barriers arise in knowledge flows from sources such as implementation partner staff, training materials, trainers, and help-desk staff, issues such as those reported in this paper arise in the ERP lifecycle.

DESIGNING XML PIVOT MODELS FOR MASTER DATA INTEGRATION VIA UML PROFILE

Ludovic Menet and Myriam Lamolle

The majority of Information Systems is concerned by heterogeneity in both data and solutions. The use of this data thus becomes complex, inefficient and expensive in business applications. The issues of data integration, data storage, design and exchange of models are strongly linked. The need to federate data sources and to use standard modelling formalism is apparent. In this paper, we focus on mediation solutions based on XML architecture. The integration of the heterogeneous data sources is done by defining a pivot model. This model uses the standard XML Schema allowing the definition of complex data structures. We introduce features of the UML formalism, through a profile, to facilitate the collaborative definition and the exchange of these models, and to introduce the capacity to express semantic constraints in XML models. These constraints will be used to perform data factorisation and to optimise data operations.

TOWARDS THE NEXT GENERATION OF SERVICE-ORIENTED FLEXIBLE COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS - A BASIC FRAMEWORK APPLIED TO MEDICAL RESEARCH

Jonas Schulte, Thorsten Hampel, Konrad Stark, Johann Eder and Erich Schikuta

Collaborative systems have to support specific functionalities in order to be useful for special fields of application and to fulfil those requirements. In this paper we introduce the Wasabi framework for collaborative systems, which is characterised by flexibility and adaptability. The framework implements a service oriented architecture and integrates different persistence layers. The requirement analysis for the Wasabi CSCW system is presented in the context of a collaborative environment for medical research which has strict requirements concerning data integrity. This paper shows the results of the requirement analysis and how these are implemented in the Wasabi architecture.

MIGRATION BETWEEN CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS - EXPLOITING THE JSR-170 CONTENT REPOSITORY STANDARD

Michael Nebeling, Grace Rumantir and Lindsay Smith

Content management systems (CMS) have evolved in various different ways. Even amongst CMS support-ing JSR-170, the recent Java standard to organise and access content repositories, incompatible content structures exist due to substantial differences in the implemented content models. This can be of primary concern when migration between CMS is required. This paper proposes a framework to enable automated migrations between CMS in the absence of con-sistency and uniformity in content structures. This framework serves as a starting point of a body of re-search to design a common content model which can be implemented in future CMS to facilitate migration between CMS based on JSR-170 and improve integration into existing information systems environments. It is illustrated via a simple website created using two of the most popular open-source CMS supporting JSR-170, namely Magnolia and Alfresco. A model-based approach towards a generalised content structure is postulated to resolve the differences between the proprietary content structures as identified in the visualisa-tion of the simple website created. The proposed model has been implemented in Jackrabbit, the JSR-170 reference implementation, and the proposed framework therefore contains simple methods to transform con-tent structures between Magnolia and Alfresco using this Jackrabbit implementation as an intermediator.

A VISUAL SPECIFICATOIN TOOL FOR EVENT-CONDITION-ACTION RULES SUPPORTING WEB-BASED DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM

Wei Liu, Ying Qiao, Xiang Li, Kang Zhong, Hongan Wang and Guozhong Dai

Specifying Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules is an important issue in the domain of active database. Current specification tools for ECA rules include visual specification tools and textual specification tools based on XML. Here, the visualization of ECA rules provides an easy-to-use interface in design/analysis tools for active database queries while the XML-based representation allows the exchange of ECA rules in a web-based distributed environment. Thus, a specification tool with advantages of both visual representation and XML-based representation is needed. In this paper we present and implement a new visual specification tool for ECA rules, called VSTE, to address this issue. We also use a web-based smart home system to evaluate our work.

GATHERING PRODUCT DATA FROM SMART PRODUCTS

Jan Nyman, Kary Främling and Vincent Michel

The enabling of data produced by product embedded sensor devices for use in product development could greatly benefit manufactures, while opening up new business opportunities. Currently products such as cars already have embedded sensor devices, but the data is usually not available for analysis in real-time. We propose that a world-wide, inter-organizational network for product data gathering should be created. The network should be based on open standards so that it can be widely adopted. It is important that a common, interoperable solution is accepted by all companies, big or small, to enable innovative new services to be developed. In this paper, the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is described. The PROMISE project is presented, and a distributed messaging system for product data gathering developed within the project is introduced. Practical experiences related to the implementation of the messaging system in a real application scenario are discussed.

SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY - INFORMATION INTEGRATION BY USING ONTOLOGY MAPPING IN INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

Irina Peltomaa, Heli Helaakoski and Juha Tuikkanen

Interoperability requires two components technical and information integration. Most of the enterprises have solved the problem of technical integration but at the moment they are struggling with information integration. The challenge in information integration is to preserve the meaning of information in different context. Semantic technologies can provide means for information integration by representing the meaning of information. This paper introduces how to use semantics by developing ontology models based on enterprise information. Different ontology models from diverse sources and applications can be mapped together in order to provide integrated view for different information sources. Furthermore this paper describes the process of ontology development and mapping. The domain area of this case study is heavy industrial environment with multiple applications and data sources.

A METADATA MODEL FOR KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY IN DATABASE

José Rafael Carvalho and Maria Madalena Dias

Metadata are deeply necessary in an environment of Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD), once they are the responsible for the whole documentation of information on data that integrate a data warehouse (DW), being the latter used to store the data about the organization business. Such data usually come from several data sources, thus the metadata format should be independent on the platform. The system inter-operability can be solved, by using XML (Extensible Markup Language). Therefore, in the present paper a metadata model for KDD, in XML format, and a metadata manager are presented. The manager was implemented in Java, which provides support to the model presently proposed.

TOWARDS A SEMIOTIC QUALITY FRAMEWORK OF SOFTWARE MEASURES

Erki Eessaar

Each software entity should have as high quality as possible in the context of limited resources. A software quality metric is a kind of software entity. Existing studies about the evaluation of software metrics do not pay enough attention to the quality of specifications of metrics. Semiotics has been used as a basis in order to evaluate the quality of different types of software entities. In this paper, we propose a multidimensional, semiotic quality framework of software quality metrics. We apply this framework in order to evaluate the syntactic and semantic quality of two sets of database design metrics. The evaluation shows that these metrics have some quality problems.

DATA MANAGEMENT AND INTEGRATION WITHIN COLLABORATIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENTS

Assel Matthias and Kipp Alexander

With increasingly distributed and inhomogeneous resources, sharing knowledge, information, or data becomes more and more difficult and manageable for both, end-users and providers. To reduce administrative overheads and ease complicated and time-consuming integration tasks of widely dispersed (data) resources, quite a few solutions for collaborative data sharing and access have been designed and introduced in several European research projects for example in CoSpaces and ViroLab. These two projects basically concentrate on the development of collaborative working environments for different user communities such as engineering teams as well as health professionals with a particular focus on the integration of heterogeneous and large data resources into the system's infrastructure. In this paper, we present two approaches realised within CoSpaces and ViroLab to overcome the difficulties of integrating multiple data resources and making them accessible in a user-friendly but also secure way. We start with an analysis on systems' specifications describing user and provider requirements for appropriate solutions. Finally, we conclude with an outlook and give some recommendations how those systems can be further enhanced in order to guarantee a certain level of dynamicity, scalability, reliability, and last but not least security and trustworthiness.

A FRAMEWORK FOR PROTECTING EJB APPLICATIONS FROM MALICIOUS COMPONENTS

Hieu Vo and Masato Suzuki

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components in an EJB application can be obtained from various sources. These components may be in-house developed or bought from other vendors. In the latter case, the source code of components is usually not available to application developers. The result is the application may contain malicious components. We propose a framework called BFSec that protects EJB applications from vicious components. The framework examines bean methods invoked by each thread in applications and compares them with pre-defined business functions to check whether the latest calls of threads are proper. Unexpected calls, which are considered as made by malicious components, will be blocked.

CONFIGURATION FRAGMENTS AS THE DNA OF SYSTEM AND CHANGE PROPERTIES - ARCHITECTURAL CHANGE OF COMPONENT-BASED AND SERVICE-ORIENTED SYSTEMS

D'Arcy Walsh

The notion of a Configuration Fragment is adopted to help address the challenge of managing the different kinds of dependencies that exist during the evolution of component-based and service-oriented systems. Based upon a model of Architectural Change and an example application-specific context, they are defined in order to express and reconcile change properties with respect to existing system properties. During system evolution, Configuration Fragments enable the configuration of Service and Service Protocol, Operation and Provided Service, Operation and Required Service, Operation and Operation, Operation and State Element, Operation and Composite Component, Component and Component, and Required Service and Provided Service dependencies. This occurs through the process of configuration leading to association, configuration leading to disassociation, or configuration leading to refinement of these system elements.

A FRAMEWORK FOR DATA CLEANING IN DATA WAREHOUSES

Taoxin Peng

There is a growing awareness that the high quality of data is a key to today’s business success. In recent years, data warehouse applications become more and more popular. It is a persistent challenge to achieve a high quality of data in data warehouses. It is estimated that as high as 75% of the effort spent on building a data warehouse can be attributed to back-end issues, such as readying the data and transporting it into the data warehouse. Among the tasks of readying data, data cleaning is crucial. To deal with this problem, a set of methods and tools has been developed. However, there are still at least two questions needed to be answered: How to improve the efficiency while performing data cleaning? How to improve the degree of automation when performing data cleaning? This paper challenges these two questions by presenting a novel framework, which provides an approach to managing data cleaning in data warehouses by focusing on the use of data quality dimensions, and decoupling a cleaning process into several sub-processes. Initial test run of the processes in the framework demonstrates that the approach presented is efficient and scalable for data cleaning in data warehouses.

DEVISA - CONCEPTS AND ARCHITECTURE OF A DATA MINING MODELS SCORING AND MANAGEMENT WEB SYSTEM

Diana Gorea

In this paper we describe DeVisa, a Web system for scoring and management of data mining models. The system has been designed to provide unified access to different prediction models using standard technologies based on XML. The prediction models are serialized in PMML format and managed using a native XML database system. The system provides functions such as scoring, model comparison, model selection or sequencing through a a web service interface. DeVisa also defines a specialized PMML query language named PMQL used for specifying client requests and interaction with PMML repository. The paper analyzes the system's architecture and functionality and discusses its use as a tool for researchers.

HESITANCY IN COMMITTING TO LARGE-SCALE ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS - EXPERIENCES AT A MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION

Chris Barry and Wojtek Sikorski

While early cited benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or enterprise systems remain for the most part highly desirable, it is often the case that the promise of delivery differs from reality. Many now agree that achieving enterprise systems benefits is complex, cumbersome, risky and expensive. Furthermore many ERP projects do not fully achieve expectations. This paper takes a critical lens to the prospect of firms achieving enterprise systems’ benefits and presents the findings of a case study that examines the underlying managerial and organizational reasons of one multi-national enterprise for, at least, delaying ERP implementation. It reveals a rich picture of implementation motivators, inhibitors and the perceived and real benefits of enterprise systems.

ITERATIVE XML SEARCH BASED ON DATA AND ASSOCIATED SEMANTICS

Alda Lopes Gançarski, Pedro Rangel Henriques and Flávio Xavier Ferreira

In a previous work in the context of information retrieval, XQuery was extended with an iterative paradigm. This extension helps the user getting the desired results from queries. In a related work, XQuery was also extended to allow the inclusion of SPARQL queries; this is useful when XML documents are associated with semantic RDF descriptions. However integrating SPARQL in XQuery queries makes the construction of queries more complex (although more powerful). To leverage this integration, we propose to apply the iterative paradigm to the ‘SPARQL extension to XQuery’. In the paper this proposal is introduced and justified and a case study is presented.

ADAPTATIVE MATCHING OF DATABASE WEB SERVICES EXPORT SCHEMAS

Daniela F. Brauner, Alexandre Gazola, Marco A. Casanova and Karin K. Breitman

This paper proposes an approach and a mediator architecture for adaptively matching export schemas of database web services. Differently from traditional mediator approaches, the mediated schema is constructed from the mappings adaptively elicited from user query responses. That is, query results are postprocessed to identify reliable mappings and build the mediated schema on the fly. The approach is illustrated with two case studies from rather different application domains.

COMPLEX EVENT PROCESSING FOR SENSOR BASED DATA AUDITING

Christian Lettner, Christian Hawel, Thomas Steinmaurer and Dirk Draheim

Current legislation demands organizations to responsibly manage sensitive data. To achieve compliance, data auditing must be implemented in information systems. In this paper we propose a data auditing architecture that creates data audit reports out of simple audit events at the technical level. We use complex event processing technology (CET) to obtain composed audit events out of simple audit events. In two scenarios we show how complex audit events can be built for business processes and application users, when one database user is shared between many application users, as found in multi-tier architectures.

AN APPROACH FOR SCHEMA VERSIONING IN MULTI-TEMPORAL XML DATABASES

Zouhaier Brahmia and Rafik Bouaziz

Schema evolution keeps only the current data and the schema version after applying schema changes. On the contrary, schema versioning creates new schema versions and preserves old schema versions and their corresponding data. These two techniques have been investigated widely, both in the context of static and temporal databases. With the growing interest in XML and temporal XML data as well as the mechanisms for holding such data, the XML context within which data items are formatted also becomes an issue. If much research work has recently focused on the problem of schema evolution in XML databases, less attention has been devoted to schema versioning in such databases. In this paper, we propose an approach for schema versioning in multi-temporal XML databases. This approach is based on the XML Schema language for describing XML schema, and is database consistency-preserving.

A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR MEASURING B2B INTEGRATION READINESS OF SMES

Spiros Mouzakitis, Aikaterini-Maria Sourouni, Fenareti Lampathaki and John Psarras

In the dawn of 21st century, companies are seeking ways to perform transactions efficiently and effectively. Enterprises must tackle B2B integration and adoption challenges in the short term in order to survive in such a competitive business environment of nowadays. However, most enterprises, and especially SMEs, lack the necessary technical and non-technical infrastructure as well the economic potential in order to efficiently adopt a B2B integration framework. This paper presents a methodological approach towards measuring the B2B integration readiness of Enterprises and the development of the software system to support it.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DELIVERY PROCESS - AN APPLICATION TO THE DESIGN OF A LEGAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

Ovidiu Vasutiu, Youssef Amghar, David Jouve and Jean-Marie Pinon

Nowadays information systems are more and more important for all types of organizations. To deal with the complex technologies available, IT specialists use proven best practices inspired from more comprehensive process frameworks for software and systems delivery or implementation and for effective project management. Methods developed to support theses processes produce many different heterogeneous resources (design documents and models, planning, project prototypes, etc...). Furthermore Information Systems need to follow, to adapt to a continuously changing reality. Designers will always have to consider new user and stakeholders requirements and go back to the starting design case for an update. The design cycle is then iterative. In this paper we present an organizational and technical infrastructure for a collaborative design process management system which automates mechanisms to assure the coherence and consistency of these continuously updated resources. Our approach uses document structuring, knowledge representation, and mechanisms for dependency analyzing and impact studies.

SIZE AND EFFORT-BASED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS FOR SOFTWARE COST PREDICTION

Efi Papatheocharous and Andreas S. Andreou

Reliable and accurate software cost estimations have always been a challenge especially for people involved in project resource management. The challenge is amplified due to the high level of complexity and uniqueness of the software process. The majority of estimation methods proposed fail to produce successful cost forecasting and neither resolve to explicit, measurable and concise set of factors affecting productivity. Throughout the software cost estimation literature software size is usually proposed as one of the most important attributes affecting effort and is used to build cost models. This paper aspires to provide size and effort-based estimations for the required software effort based on past historical projects data. The modeling approach utilises Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) with a random sliding window input method using holdout samples and moreover, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) undertakes to evolve the inputs and internal hidden architectures and to reduce the Mean Relative Error (MRE). The obtained optimal ANN topologies and input methods for each dataset are presented, discussed and compared to a classic MLR model.

WWW++ - ADDING WHY TO WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE

Paris Pennesi, Mark Harrison, Chaithanya Rao, Chien Yaw Wong and Srilakshmi Sivala

RFID technology can be used to its fullest potential only with software to supplement the hardware with powerful capabilities for data capture, filtering, counting and storage. The EPCglobal Network architecture encourages minimizing the amount of business logic embedded in the tags, readers and middleware. This creates the need for a Business Logic Layer above the event filtering layer that enhances basic observation events with business context - i.e. in addition to the (what, when, where) information about an observation, it adds context information about why the object was there. The purpose of this project is to develop an implementation of the Business Logic Layer. This application accepts observation event data (e.g. from the Application Level Events (ALE) standard interface), enriches them with business context and provides these enriched events to a repository of business-level events (e.g. via the EPC Information Services (EPCIS) capture interface). The strength of the application lies in the automatic addition of business context. It is quick and easy to adapt any business process to the framework suggested and equally easy to reconfigure it if the business process is changed. A sample application has been developed for a business scenario in the retail sector.

AN ONTOLOGY-BASED APPROACH FOR SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY IN P2P SYSTEMS

Deise de Brum Saccol, Rodrigo Perozzo Noll, Nina Edelweiss and Renata de Matos Galante

In peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, files from the same application domain are spread over the network. When the user poses a query, the processing relies mainly on the flooding technique, which is quite inefficient for optimization purposes. To solve this issue, our work proposes to cluster documents from the same application domain into super peers. Thus, files related to the same universe of discourse are grouped and the query processing is restricted to a subset of the network. The clustering task involves: ontology generation, document and ontology matching, and metadata management. The proposed mechanism implements the ontology manager in DetVX, an environment for detecting, managing and querying replicas and versions in a P2P context.

A MAPPING-DRIVEN APPROACH FOR SQL/XML VIEW MAINTENANCE

Vânia M. P. Vidal, Fernando C. Lemos, Valdiana S. Araújo and Marco A. Casanova

In this work we study the problem of how to incrementally maintain materialized XML views of relational data, based on the semantic mappings that model the relationship between the source and view schemas. The semantic mappings are specified by a set of correspondence assertions, which are simple to understand. The paper focuses on an algorithm to incrementally maintain materialized XML views of relational data.

USING ONTOLOGY META DATA FOR DATA WAREHOUSING

Alberto Salguero, Francisco Araque and Cecilia Delgado

One of the most complex issues of the integration and transformation interface is the case where there are multiple sources for a single data element in the enterprise Data Warehouse (DW). There are many facets due to the number of variables that are needed in the integration phase. However we are interested in the integration of temporal and spatial problem due to the nature of DWs. This paper presents our ontology based DW architecture for temporal integration on the basis of the temporal and spatial properties of the data and temporal characteristics of the data sources. The proposal shows the steps for the transformation of the native schemes of the data sources into the DW scheme and end user scheme and the use of an ontology model as the common data model.

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MODELING - FORMAL SPECIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OF THE HIERARCHY CONCEPT

Ali Salem, Faiza Ghozzi and Hanene Ben-Abdallah

The quality of a data mart (DM) tightly depends on the quality of its multidimensional model. This quality dependence motivated several research efforts to define a set of constraints on the DM model/schema. Currently proposed constraints are either incomplete, or informally presented, which may lead to ambiguous interpretations. The work presented in this paper is a first step towards the definition of a formal framework for the specification and the verification of the quality of DM schemas. In this framework, the quality is expressed in terms of both the syntactic well-formedness of the DM schema as well as its semantic soundness with respect to the DM instances. More precisely, this paper first formalizes in Z the constraints pertinent to the hierarchy concept; the formalization is treated at the meta-model level. Secondly, the paper illustrates how the formalization can be instantiated and the constraints are verified for a particular sample model through the theorem prover Z\eves.

A PROTOCOL TO CONTROL REPLICATION IN DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME DATABASE SYSTEMS

Anis Haj Said, Bruno Sadeg, Laurent Amanton and Béchir Ayeb

Data replication is often used in distributed systems to improve both availability and performance of applications accessing data. This is interesting for distributed real-time database systems since accessing data possibilities can help transactions to meet their deadlines. However such systems must ensure the maintaining of data copies consistency. To achieve this goal, distributed systems have to manage replication by implementing replication control protocols. In this paper, we discuss the contributions of data replication in distributed real-time database systems and we then present RT-RCP, a replication control protocol we designed for DRTDBS. We introduce a new entity called List of available copies (LAC) which is a list related to each data item in the database. A LAC of a data item contains all or a part of updated replicas references of this data item. These references are used by sites in order to access data at the appropriate sites. RT-RCP ensures data updates without affecting system performance and allows inconsistencies to happen but prevents access to stale data.

SCHEMA EVOLUTION IN WIKIPEDIA - TOWARD A WEB INFORMATION SYSTEM BENCHMARK

Carlo A. Curino, Hyun J. Moon , Letizia Tanca and Carlo Zaniolo

Evolving the database that is at the core of an Information System represents a difficult maintenance problem that has only been studied in the framework of traditional information systems. However, the problem is likely to be even more severe in web information systems, where open-source software is often developed through the contributions and collaboration of many groups and individuals. Therefore, in this paper, we present an in-depth analysis of the evolution history of the Wikipedia database and its schema; Wikipedia is the best-known example of a large family of web information systems built using the open-source software MediaWiki. Our study is based on: (i) a set of Schema Modification Operators that provide a simple conceptual representation for complex schema changes, and (ii) simple software tools to automate the analysis. This framework allowed us to dissect and analyze the 4.5 years of Wikipedia history, which was short in time, but intense in terms of growth and evolution. Beyond confirming the initial hunch about the severity of the problem, our analysis suggests the need for developing better methods and tools to support graceful schema evolution. Therefore, we briefly discuss documentation and automation support systems for database evolution, and suggest that the Wikipedia case study can provide the kernel of a benchmark for testing and improving such systems.

ERP IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES - VENDORS’ PERSPECTIVE

Jim Odhiambo Otieno

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have transformed the way organizations go about the process of providing information systems. They promise to provide an off-the-shelf solution to the information needs of organizations. Despite that promise, implementation projects are plagued with much publicized failures and abandoned projects. Efforts to make ERP systems successful in organizations are facing challenges. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the challenges faced by organisations implementing ERP systems in Kenya based on consultant point of view. Based on the factors identified from the interview, a survey was administered to ERP consultants from five Kenyan organisations that were identified as having a key role in ERP systems implementation in their firms in order to assess the criticality of the identified challenges. A factor analysis of these items identified six underlying dimensions. The findings of this study should provide to management of firms implementing ERP systems a better understanding of the likely challenges they may face and put in place appropriate measure to help in mitigating the risk of implementation failures.

TOWARDS A METHODOLOGY FOR MODELLING INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN COLLABORATING ENTERPRISES

Anders Carstensen, Kurt Sandkuhl and Lennart Holmberg

In this paper we have described a collaboration study between two companies in a networked organisation. The main contribution is the connector view by which it is possible to model the collaboration without major changes in existing enterprise models, although the collaboration actually may effect several elements in the original model. Supporting objects are used to connect elements in the connector view to the original model, thereby establishing correspondencies between the conector view and the enterprise view.

USING A DATAWAREHOUSE TO EXTRACT KNOWLEDGE FROM ROBOCUP TEAMS

Isabel Gonzalez, Pedro Abreu and Luis Paulo Reis

RoboCup is a scientific and educational, international project that involves artificial intelligence, robotics and sport sciences. In these competitions, teams of all around the world participated in distinct leagues. In the begining of the Coach competition, one of RocoCup leagues,the goal of the researchers was to develop an agent (Coach that provides advices to teammates about how to act and with improve team performance. Using the resulting improved coach agent, with enhanced statistic calculation abilities, a huge amount of statistical data was gathered from the games held at Bremen 2006. This data was then stored and treated in a data warehouse system obtaining a good high level perspective/knowledge of the RoboCup simulated soccer tournament. According to the results, the team that represented our country, has a much more goal opportunities in comparison with the majority of the teams, but this team did not score many goals. In terms of more occupied regions, the best four teams in the tournament did not occupy many times the left and right wings, compared to others regions. In the future the our country team needs to develop new strategies that use these two areas preferrentialy in order to achieve better results.

THE MOTION PICTURE PARADIGM FOR MANAGING INFORMATION - A FRAMEWORK AND APPROACH TO SUPPORTING THE PLAY AND REPLAY OF INFORMATION IN COMPUTERISED INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Bing Wu, Kudakwashe Dube and Essam Mansour

The easy production of organisational reports that present information to management is an important goal of computerised information systems. The inability of these computerised systems to provide a continuous, on-the-fly and dynamic “information scene” for the review period continues to allow hidden trends in information and important questions to remain undetected. This paper presents a new paradigm, called the motion picture paradigm, for information management. This new paradigm addresses the above problem by through a perspective that views an organisation’s database and information systems as a mechanism for recording motion pictures of organisational information. The paper presents the key concepts that were developed for the new paradigm and then demonstrates that this paradigm can be realised through a comprehensive framework for the multi-dimensional management of information for complex domains and the use of existing information technologies. The results of preliminary experience, involving the computerised management of clinical practice guideline and electronic healthcare record information were obtained. The experience reveal that the motion picture paradigm facilitates, at any time, the easy and comprehensive review of information in a way that allows developments to be grasped easily and possibilities of the detection of hidden trends and the generation of ground-breaking questions to be enhanced.

A STUDY OF THE SPATIAL REPRESENTATION IN MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODELS

Concepción M. Gascueña and Rafael Guadalupe

This work presents a study on the handling of multiple spatio-temporal granularities in Data Warehouses or Multidimensional Databases (MDB). Are used these technologies in the Decision Support Systems and in Geographic Information Systems, the latter locates spatial data on the Earth’s surface and studies its evolution through time. The possibility of to store the spatial data with multiple granularities in databases, allow us to study these data with multiple representations and clarifies the understanding of the data analysis subject. This paper presents a conceptual multidimensional model called FactEntity (FE) to model MDB, this model adds new definitions, constructors, and hierarchical structures, to deal with the spatial and temporal multi-granularities under the multidimensional paradigm. In addition, the FE model show and define some new concepts as Basic factEntity and Virtual factEntities, and the way of to derive the data in order to make up these Virtual factEntities. This study distinguishes two spatial granularity types, which we called: geometric granularity and semantic granularity and in order to handle them are proposed three new types of hierarchies: Dynamic, Static and Hybrid. We do an analysis on the behaviour of spatial data, with multiple granularities, interacting with other spatial and thematic data. There is no multidimensional model that allows gathering of so much semantics, which our model proposes.

TOWARDS A METHOD FOR ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Rafael Silveira, Joan Pastor and Enric Mayol

Enterprise information systems integration is essential for organizations to fulfil interoperability requirements between applications and business processes. To carry out most typical integration requirements, traditional software development methodologies are not suitable. Neither are enterprise package implementation methodologies. Thus, specific ad-hoc methodologies are needed for information systems integration. This paper proposes a new methodology for enterprise information systems integration that facilitates continuous learning and centralized management during all the integration process. This methodology has been developed based on the integration experience gained in a real case, which is shortly described.

SODDA – A SERVICE-ORIENTED DISTRIBUTED DATABASE ARCHITECTURE

Breno Mansur Rabelo and Clodoveu Augusto Davis Jr.

The increasing dissemination of information systems distributed over computer networks has reinforced the interest on distributed database manage¬ment systems (DDBMS). A review on the architecture of such systems is currently motivated by the wide availability of networking resources, especially the Internet, through which the cost of communication among the nodes of a distributed database can be reduced. Besides, the coming of age of syntactic interoperability standards, such as XML, and of service-based networking allow for new alternatives for the implementation and deployment of distributed data¬bases. This paper presents a review of the classical distributed database management architecture from a technological standpoint, suggesting its use in the context of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). The paper also proposes the adoption of elements from service-oriented architectures for the implementation of the connections among distributed database components, thus configuring a service-oriented distributed database architecture.

LANGUAGE EXTENSIONS FOR THE AUTOMATION OF DATABASE SCHEMA EVOLUTION

George Papastefanatos, Panos Vassiliadis, Alkis Simitsis, Konstantinos Aggistalis, Fotini Pechlivani and Yannis Vassiliou

The administrators and designers of modern Information Systems face the problem of maintaining their systems in the presence of frequently occurring changes in any counterpart of it. In other words, when a change occurs in any point of the system –e.g., source, schema, view, software construct– they should propagate the change in all the involved parts of the system. Hence, it is imperative that the whole process should be done correctly, i.e., the change should be propagated to all the appropriate points of the system, with a limited overhead imposed on both the system and the humans, who design and maintain it. In this paper, we are dealing with the problem of evolution in the context of databases. First, we present a coherent, graph-based framework for capturing the effect of potential changes in the database software of an Information System. Next, we describe a generic annotation policy for database evolution and we propose a feasible and powerful extension to the SQL language specifically tailored for the management of evolution. Finally, we demonstrate the efficiency and feasibility of our approach through a case study based on a real-world situation occurred in the Greek public sector.

IMPLEMENTING THE DATA ACCESS OBJECT PATTERN USING ASPECTJ

André Luiz de Oliveira, André Luis Andrade Menolli and Ricardo Gonçalves Coelho

Due to the constant access and storage information need, there is a constant concern for implementing these functionalities in large part of the current developed applications. Most of these applications use the Data Access Object pattern to implement those functionalities, once this pattern makes possible the separation of the data access code of the application code. However its implementation exposes the data access object to the others application objects, causing situations in witch a business object access the data access object. With the objective of solving this problem, the present paper proposes an oriented implementation of the aspects of this pattern, followed by a quantitative evaluation of both, object oriented (OO) and aspect oriented (AO), implementations of this pattern. This study used strong software engineering attributes such as, separation of interests, coupling and cohesion, as evaluation criteria.

K-MEANS BASED APPROACH FOR OLAP DIMENSION UPDATES

Fadila Bentayeb

Actual data warehouses models usually consider OLAP dimensions as static entities. However, in practice, structural changes of dimensions schema are often necessary to adapt the multidimensional database to changing requirements. This article presents a new structural update operator for OLAP dimensions. This operator can create a new level to which, a pre-existent level in an OLAP dimension hierarchy rolls up. To define the domain of the new level and the aggregation function from an existing level to the new level, our operator classifies all instances of an existing level into k clusters with the k-means clustering algorithm. To choose features for k-means clustering, we propose two solutions: the first solution uses descriptors of the pre-existent level in its dimension table. On the other hand, the second solution proposes to describe the level by measures attributes in the fact table. As data warehouses are very large databases, these solutions were integrated inside a RDBMS: the Oracle database system. In addition, we carried out some experimentations which validated the relevance of our approach.

STUDY OF CHALLENGES AND TECHNIQUES IN LARGE SCALE MATCHING

Sana Sellami, Aicha-Nabila Benharkat, Youssef Amghar and Rami Rifaieh

Matching Techniques are becoming very attractive research topic. With the development and the use of a large variety of data (e.g. DB schemas, ontologies, taxonomies), in many domains (e.g. libraries, life science, etc), Matching Techniques are called to overcome the challenge of aligning and reconciling theses ifferent interrelated representations. In this paper, we are interested in studying large scale matching approaches. We define a quality of Matching (QoM) that can be used to evaluate large scale Matching systems. We survey the techniques of large scale matching, when a large number of schemas/ontologies and attributes are involved. We attempt to cover a variety of techniques for schema matching called Pair-wise and Holistic, as well as a set of useful optimization techniques. One can acknowledge that this domain is on top of effervescence and Large scale matching need much more advances. So, we propose a contribution that deals with the creation of a hybrid approach that combines these techniques.

CONCEPTUAL UNIVERSAL DATABASE LANGUAGE (CUDL) AND ENTERPRISE MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Nikitas N. Karanikolas, Christos Skourlas, Maria Nitsiou and Emmanuel J. Yannakoudakis

Today, there is an increased trend for Electronic Patient Records (EPR) incorporating and correlating heterogeneous information imported from various sources and from different medical applications. New possibilities are also given by the rapid technological progress and the development of independent software applications and tools that handle multimedia medical data. Moreover, users (e.g. doctors, nurses) often prefer to use general purpose software (e.g. word processors) and specific applications and tools for organizing and accessing medical data and they only partially use Hospital Information Systems (HIS). Therefore, it is necessary for the HIS to provide the capability for encapsulating in their EPR externally created information. Dynamic evolution of the HIS must also be supported by flexible Database schemata. In this paper, we conclude that modern HIS should be designed and implemented using database management systems offering new enhanced database models and manipulation languages. Eventually, we describe and discuss how to use the Frame Database Model (FDB) and the new Conceptual Universal Database Language (CUDL) for supporting dynamic schema evolution and covering the needs of the users.

TRANSACTIONAL SUPPORT IN NATIVE XML DATABASES

Theo Härder, Sebastian Bächle and Christian Mathis

Apparently, everything that can be said about concurrency control and recovery is already said. Nevertheless, the XML model opens new issues for the optimization of transaction processing. In this position paper, we report on our current view concerning XML transaction optimization. We explore aspects of fine-grained transaction isolation using tailor-made lock protocols. Furthermore, we outline XML storage techniques where storage representation and logging can be minimized in specific application scenarios.

GREEN COMPUTING - A CASE FOR DATA CACHING AND FLASH DISKS?

Karsten Schmidt, Theo Härder, Joachim Klein and Steffen Reithermann

Green computing or energy saving when processing information is primarily considered a task of processor development. However, this position paper advocates that a holistic approach is necessary to reduce power consumption to a minimum. We discuss the potential of integrating NAND flash memory into DB-based architectures and its support by adjusted DBMS algorithms governing IO processing. The goal is to drastically improve energy efficiency while comparable performance as in disk-based systems is maintained.

A STORE OF JAVA OBJECTS ON A MULTICOMPUTER

Mariusz Bedla and Krzysztof Sapiecha

The research deals with Object Oriented versions of Scalable Distributed Data Structures (OOSDDS) to store Java objects in serialized form. OOSDDS can be used as a part of distributed object store. In the paper an architecture for object version of RP* is introduced and its implementation for Java objects is given. Finally performance of the new architecture is evaluated.

SUCCINCT ACCESS CONTROL POLICIES FOR PUBLISHED XML DATASETS

Tomasz Müldner, Jan Krzysztof Miziołek and Gregory Leighton

We consider the setting of secure publishing of XML documents, in which read-only access control policies (ACPs) over static XML datasets are enforced using cryptographic keys. The role-based access control (RBAC) model provides a flexible method for specifying such policies. Extending the RBAC model to include role parameterization addresses the problem of role proliferation which can occur in large scale systems. In this paper, we describe the complete design of a parameterized RBAC (PRBAC) model for XML documents. We also detail algorithms for generating the minimum number of keys required to enforce an arbitrary PRBAC policy; for distributing to each user only keys needed for decrypting accessible nodes; and for applying the minimal number of encryption operations to an XML document required to satisfy the protection requirements of the policy. We also show that the time complexity of our approach is linear w.r.t. document size and the number of roles. This is a position paper presenting work in progress.

SCHEMA MAPPING FOR RDBMS

Calin-Adrian Comes, Ioan Ovidiu Spatacean, Daniel Stefan, Beatrice Stefan, Lucian-Dorel Savu, Vasile Paul Bresfelean and Nicolae Ghisoiu

Schema mapping is a specification that describes how data structured from one schema S the source schema is to be transformed into data structured under schema T, the target schema. Schemata S and T without triggers and/or stored procedures(functions and procedures) are statical. In this article, we propose a Schema Mapping Model specification that describes the conversion of a Schema Model from one Platform-Specific Model to other Platform-SpecificModel according toMeta-Object Facility-Query/Verify/Transformin dynamical mode.

USING CASE-BASED REASONING TO EXPLAIN EXCEPTIONAL CASES

Rainer Schmidt and Olga Vorobieva

In medicine many exceptions occur. In medical practice and in knowledge-based systems too, it is necessary to consider them and to deal with them appropriately. In medical studies and in research, exceptions shall be explained. We present a system that helps to explain cases that do not fit into a theoretical hypothesis. Our starting points are situations where neither a well-developed theory nor reliable knowledge nor a case base is available at the beginning. So, instead of reliable theoretical knowledge and intelligent experience, we have just some theoretical hypothesis and a set of measurements. In this paper, we propose to combine Case-Based Reasoning with a statistical model. We use Case-Based Reasoning to explain those cases that do not fit the model. The case base has to be set up incrementally, it contains the exceptional cases, and their explanations are the solutions, which can be used to help to explain further exceptional cases.

A NEW APPROXIMATE REASONING BASED ON SPMF

Dae-Young Choi

A new approximate reasoning based on standardized parametric membership functions (SPMF) is proposed. It provides an efficient mechanism for approximate reasoning within linear time complexity. Thus, it can be used to improve the speed of approximate reasoning.

AN ENHANCED SYSTEM FOR PATTERN RECOGNITION AND SUMMARISATION OF MULTI-BAND SATELLITE IMAGES

Hema Nair

This paper presents an enhanced system developed in Java® for pattern recognition and pattern summarisation in multi-band (RGB) satellite images. Patterns such as island, land, water body, river, fire, urban settlement in such images are extracted and summarised in linguistic terms using fuzzy sets. Some elements of supervised classification are utilised in the system to assist in the development of linguistic summaries. Results of testing the system to analyse and summarise patterns in SPOT MS images and LANDSAT images are also discussed.

TEMPORAL INFORMATION INDEXING MODEL

Witold Abramowicz and Andrzej Bassara

Modern information retrieval models are not capable of resolving queries containing temporal criteria. One is not able to search for documents which content relates to certain time periods (for instance ,,find all documents related to the third quarter of the last year``). This limitation is mainly due to syntactic nature of modern information retrieval models, which performs query-document matching based on syntactic or simplified semantic similarity measures. Information Retrieval models consist of following components: documents, information needs, documents representation in form of indices, information needs representation in form of queries, and relevance matching components, which matches queries against indices. In this article we focus on the problem of creating a documents representations, which represent time to which indexed documents relate. This in turn will allow to issue queries containing temporal criteria.

MULTI-AGENT AND EMBEDDED SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES FOR AUTOMATIC SURVEILLANCE

M. C. Romero, F. Sivianes, A. Carrasco, M. D. Hernández and J. I. Escudero

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems have traditionally used text-based Human Machine Interfaces (HMI). We propose a system which integrates multimedia information in SCADA systems in order to improve and support the telecontrol tasks. This system has been deployed in a real environment and we have obtained satisfactory results. Then, we also propose an improvement for this system. This improvement allows telecontrol operators to use the system without needing any experience with computers and also it allows an automatic surveillance of the elements in the utility environment. The development of this improved system is accomplished by using the main advantages of embedded and multi-agent system technologies.

THE SWARM EFFECT MINIMIZATION ALGORITHM - UTILIZED TO OPTIMISE THE FREQUENCY ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

Grant Blaise O’Reilly and Elizabeth Ehlers

The swarm effect minimization algorithm (SEMA) is presented in this paper. The SEMA was used to produce improved solutions for the minimum interference frequency assignment problem (MI-FAP) in mobile telecommunications networks. The SEMA is a multi-agent orientated design. The SEMA is based on the stigmergy concept. The stigmergy concept allows the actual changes in the environment made by entities in a swarm to act as a source of information that aids the swarm entities when making further changes in the environment. The entities do not blindly control the changes in the environment the actual changes guide the entities. The SEMA is tested against the COST 259 Siemens bench marks as well as tested in a commercial mobile telecommunications network and the results are presented in this paper.

ALGORITHMS FOR AI LOGIC OF DECISIONS IN MULTI-AGENT ENVIRONMENT

Vladimir Rybakov and Sergey Babenyshev

The paper considers a temporal multi-agent logic LD_{m,a} (with interacting agents), imitating taking of decision by access to knowledge by agent's interaction. The interaction is modeled by possible communication channels between agents in temporal Kripke/Hintikka like models. The logic LD_{m,a} distinguishes local and global decision and is based on temporal Kripke/Hintikka models with agents accessibility relations distributed in states of all possible time clusters. The main result provides decision algorithm for LD_{m,a} (so, we prove that LD_{m,a} is decidable) which also serves the satisfiability problem.

BUILDING A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR STUDENTS BY USING CONCEPT MAPS

Dumitru Dan Burdescu, Marian Cristian Mihaescu and Bogdan Logofatu

Concept maps are an effective way of representing organized knowledge (concepts) in hierarchical fashion regarding a person’s understanding of a domain of knowledge. Within our custom developed e-Learning platform it was created a concept map for a chapter of a discipline. The obtained concept map has been used for creation the test and exam questions such that knowledge regarding each concept is tested by a certain number of quizzes. We present an architecture of a decision support system that assesses the accumulated knowledge of students. The architecture’s business logic is based on a concept map of a chapter of a discipline. A custom algorithms has been designed and implemented to measure the coverage of the curriculum. The system may be generalized for entire discipline as long as for each chapter is set up a concept map and all other necessary settings.

RECOGNITION OF VEHICLE NUMBER PLATES

Ondrej Martinsky

This work deals with problematic from field of artificial intelligence, machine vision and neural networks in construction of an automatic number plate recognition system (ANPR). This problematic includes mathematical principles and algorithms, which ensure a process of number plate detection, processes of proper characters segmentation, normalization and recognition. Work comparatively deals with methods achieving invariance of systems towards image skew, translations and various light conditions during the capture. Work also contains an implementation of a demonstration model, which is able to proceed these functions over a set of snapshots.

ENTERPRISE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL: A SURVEY

Hamid Turab Mirza

Efficient retrieval of the relevant information is a critical success factor for many enterprises. Despite of all the advancement in the web search technology, enterprise searching is still faced with many challenges and problems. Boundaries of the enterprise search are broad and expectations of the users are quite high, in addition to many challenges faced one of the major problems is the difference between the nature of web and enterprise searching. Many solutions have been proposed and techniques have been devised to improve the enterprise search, but still effective enterprise searching is a challenge for the researchers and the commercial companies, however it is realized that the solution for which will deliver enormous benefits.

A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR FACILITY LOCATION SELECTION BASED ON A FUZZY HOUSE OF QUALITY METHOD

R. Tavakkoli-Moghaddam and S. Hassanzadeh-Amin

Companies investigate decision supports systems (DSSs) for facility location selection to reduce cost and manage risk. In this paper, a decision support system for location selection is proposed based on a house of quality (HOQ) method, adopting an analysis to fuzzy logic and triangular fuzzy numbers. Special attention is also paid to the subjective assessment in the HOQ concept. Further, the differences between decision makers are taken into account. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the procedure of the proposed algorithm and identify the suitable location.

COMBINING INDEXING METHODS AND QUERY SIZES IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL IN FRENCH

Désiré Kompaoré, Josiane Mothe and Ludovic Tanguy

This paper analyses three type of different indexing methods applied on French test collections (CLEF from 2000 to 2005): lemmas, truncated terms and single words. The same search engine and the same characteristics are used independently to the indexing method to avoid variability in the analysis. When evaluated on French CLEF collections, indexing by lemmas is the best method compared to single words and truncated term methods. We also analyse the impact of combining indexing methods by using the CombMNZ function. As CLEF topics are composed of different parts, we also examine the influence of these topic parts by comparing the results when topic parts are considered individually, and when they are combined. Finally, we combine both indexing methods and query parts. We show that MAP can be improved up to 8% compared to the best individual methods

ANOMALY DETECTION ALGORITHMS IN BUSINESS PROCESS LOGS

Fábio Bezerra and Jacques Wainer

In some domains of application, like software development and health care processes, a normative business process system (e.g. workflow management system) is not appropriate because a flexible support is needed to the participants. On the other hand, while it is important to support flexibility of execution in these domains, security requirements can not be met whether these systems do not offer extra control, which characterizes a trade off between flexibility and security in such domains. This work presents and assesses a set of anomaly detection algorithms in logs of Process Aware Systems (PAS). The detection of an anomalous instance is based on the ``noise'' which an instance makes in a process model discovered by a process mining algorithm. As a result, a trace that is an anomaly for a discovered model will require more structural changes for this model fit it than a trace that is not an anomaly. Hence, when aggregated to PAS, these methods can support the coexistence of security and flexibility.

A NEW LEARNING ALGORITHM FOR CLASSIFICATION IN THE REDUCED SPACE

Luminita State, Catalina Cocianu, Ion Rosca and Panayiotis Vlamos

The aim of the research reported in the paper was twofold: to propose a new approach in cluster analysis and to investigate its performance, when it is combined with dimensionality reduction schemes. Our attempt is based on group skeletons defined by a set of orthogonal and unitary eigen vectors (principal directions) of the sample covariance matrix. Our developments impose a set of quite natural working assumptions on the true but unknown nature of the class system. The search process for the optimal clusters approximating the unknown classes towards getting homogenous groups, where the homogeneity is defined in terms of the “typicality” of components with respect to the current skeleton. Our method is described in the third section of the paper. The compression scheme was set in terms of the principal directions corresponding to the available cloud. The final section presents the results of the tests aiming the comparison between the performances of our method and the standard k-means clustering technique when they are applied to the initial space as well as to compressed data.

SUBJECTIVE PREFERENCES IN FINANCIAL PRODUCTS

Emili Vizuete Luciano and Anna Mª Gil Lafuente

When the businessman it makes financial investments in the banking organizations, him is faced with the need to choose between apparently different products but which, when all is said and done, are very similar. The financial advisers have to offer an agile and well-qualified service to be able to continue counting on the confidence of their clients and to increase their results consequently. The new situation which we faced cannot be treated by means of the application of conventional models, since we were in the total uncertainty

INTERNAL FRAUD RISK REDUCTION - RESULTS OF A DATA MINING CASE STUDY

Mieke Jans, Nadine Lybaert and Koen Vanhoof

Corporate fraud these days represents a huge cost to our economy. Academic literature already concentrated on how data mining techniques can be of value in the fight against fraud. All this research focusses on fraud detection, mostly in a context of external fraud. In this paper we discuss the use of a data mining approach to reduce the risk of internal fraud. Reducing fraud risk comprehends both detection and prevention, and therefore we apply a descriptive data mining technique as opposed to the widely used prediction data mining techniques in the literature. The results of using a latent class clustering algorithm to a case company’s procurement data suggest that applying this approach of descriptive data mining is useful in assessing the current risk of internal fraud.

AN OBJECT SELECTION MECHANISM FOR SCHEMA INTEGRATION OF AGENT’S KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE IN VIRTUAL REALITY

Dong-Hoon Kim and Jong-Hee Park

Similar to human knowledge, the knowledge of agents should be able to express various and vast information in the virtual reality. In order to represent the numerous information we should be constructed the lots of schemas. Such a reason, the schemas are represented redundantly. That is brought about the problems such as update and insertion anomalies. In order to solve the problem we should be considered the method of schema integration. In this paper, we will propose the methods of selecting object which are suitable for the schema integration.

FORECASTING WITH ARTMAP-IC NEURAL NETWORKS - AN APPLICATION USING CORPORATE BANKRUPTCY DATA

Anatoli Nachev

Financial diagnosis and prediction of corporate bankruptcy can be viewed as a pattern recognition problem. This paper proposes a novel approach to solution based on ARTMAP-IC - a general-purpose neural network system for supervised learning and recognition. For a popular dataset, with proper preprocessing steps, the model outperforms similar techniques and provides prediction accuracy equal to the best one obtained by a backpropagation MLPs. An advantage of the proposed model over the MLPs is the short online learning, fast adaptation to novel patterns and scalability.

A STOCHASTIC APPROACH FOR PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION FLOWS

Philippe Bouché and Cecilia Zanni

In our increasingly competitive world, today companies are implementing improvement strategies in every department and, in particular, in their manufacturing systems. This paper discusses the use of a global method based on a knowledge-based approach for the development of a software tool for modelling and analysis of production flows. This method will help promote the companies competitiveness by guaranteeing the efficiency of their production lines and, therefore, the quality and traceability of the manufactured products. Different kind of techniques will be used: graphic representation of the production, identification of specific behaviours, and research of correlations among events on the production line. Most of these techniques are based on statistical and probabilistic analyses. To carry on high level analyses, a stochastic approach will be used in way to identify specific behaviour to aims defining action plans, etc...

DISTRIBUTED ENSEMBLE LEARNING IN TEXT CLASSIFICATION

Catarina Silva, Bernardete Ribeiro, Uroš Lotrič and Andrej Dobnikar

In today's society, individuals and organizations are faced with an ever growing load and diversity of textual information and content, and with increasing demands for knowledge and skills. Coping with these demands requires cutting-edge learning techniques. In this work we try to answer part of these challenges by addressing text classification problems, essential to managing knowledge, by combining several different pioneer kernel-learning machines, namely Support Vector Machines and Relevance Vector Machines. To excel complex learning procedures we establish a model of high-performance distributed computing environment to help tackling the tasks involved in the text classification problem. The presented approach is valuable in many practical situations where text classification is used in search engines, either in the form of pre-classification, e.g., engines providing topic directories manually created by human experts; or post-classification, e.g. engines providing automated classification of query results. While the former increases precision the latter enhances the presentation of results. Benchmark data sets REUTERS-21578 and RCV1 are used to demonstrate the strength of the proposed system while different ensemble based learning machines provide text classification models that are efficiently deployed in the Condor and Alchemi platforms.

A GLOBAL MODEL OF SEQUENCES OF DISCRETE EVENT CLASS OCCURRENCES

Philippe Bouché, Marc Le Goc and Jérome Coinu

This paper proposes a global model of a sequence of alarms that are generated by knowledge based system monitoring a dynamic process. The modelling approach is based on the Stochastic Approach to discover timed relations between discrete event classes from the representation of a set of sequences under the dual form of a homogeneous continuous time Markov chain and a superposition of Poisson processes. An abductive reasoning on these representations allows discovering chronicle models that can be used as diagnosis rules. Such rules subsume a temporal model called the average time sequence that to sum up the initial set of sequences. This paper presents this model and the role it play in the analysis of an industrial application monitored with a network of industrial automata.

ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF NOISE ON AN UNSUPERVISED FEATURE SELECTION METHOD FOR GENERATIVE TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPING

Alfredo Vellido and Jorge S. Velazco

Unsupervised feature relevance determination and feature selection for dimensionality reduction are important issues in many clustering problems. An unsupervised feature selection method for general Finite Mixture Models was recently proposed and subsequently extended to Generative Topographic Mapping(GTM), a nonlinear manifold learning constrained mixture model that provides data clustering and visualization. Some of the results of a previous preliminary assessment of this method for GTM suggested that its performance may be affected by the presence of uninformative noise in the dataset. In this brief study, we test in some detail such limitation of the method.

LOCAL SEARCH AS A FIXED POINT OF FUNCTIONS

Eric Monfroy, Frédéric Saubion, Broderick Crawford and Carlos Castro

Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) provide a general framework for modeling many practical applications (planning, scheduling, time tabling, ...). CSPs can be solved with complete methods (e.g., constraint propagation), or incomplete methods (e.g., local search). Although there are some frameworks to formalize constraint propagation, there are only few studies of theoretical frameworks for local search. We are here concerned with the design of a generic framework to model local search as the computation of a fixed point of functions. This work allows one to simulate standard strategies used for local search, and to easily design new strategies in a uniform framework.

APPLYING MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS TO ORGANIZATIONAL MODELLING IN INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

M. C. Romero, R. M. Crowder, Y. W. Sim and T. R. Payne

This paper considers an agent-based approach to organizational modelling within the engineering design domain. The interactions between individual designers within a design teams has a significant impact upon how well a task can be performed, and hence the quality of the resultant product, hence many organisations wish to model, and hence fully understand the process. Using multi-agent social modelling, designers and the design task attributes can be the subject of rules implying how well tasks can be performed given different levels of these attributes. In this paper we discuss the background to the work and the identifications of individual, and team variables.

A KNOWLEDGE-BASED PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING RESOURCE UTILIZATION

Annie C. Y. Lam, S. K. Kwok and W. B. Lee

In current manufacturing industry, there are various challenges including short product life cycle, process automation and global competition. It is critical for the manufacturing companies to ensure effective utilization of production assets for overall business success. In order to focus scarce resources on areas that have the greatest impact on productivity, performance evaluation on the resource allocation is necessary to assist companies improving the resource utilization and accomplishing their objectives. In this paper, a knowledge-based performance measurement system (KPMS) is designed to evaluate the resource allocation decisions and provide recommendations to improve the performance and physical asset utilization. The framework of the proposed system, which is constructed by rule-based reasoning, case-based reasoning and a mathematical model, is introduced. By integrating the mathematical model with knowledge rules, performance indicators that are associated with the achievement of company objectives can be determined to quantify the performance of the resource allocation. Moreover, case-based reasoning technique is adopted to evaluate the performance and reuse the experience in past cases to provide recommendations for improvement.

THE PROTÉGÉ - PROMETHEUS APPROACH TO SUPPORT MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS CREATION

Marina V. Sokolova and Antonio Fernández-Caballero

The integration of two existing and widely accepted tools, Protégé Ontology Editor and Knowledge-Base Framework, and Prometheus Development Kit, into a common approach, aiming to include the principal stages of MAS development life cycle and offering a general sequence of steps facilitating application creation, is proposed in this paper. The approach is successfully being applied to situation assessment issues, which has concluded in an agent-based decision-support system for environmental impact evaluation.

A MODEL TO RATE TRUST IN COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Javier Portillo-Rodriguez, Juan Pablo Soto Aurora Vizcaino and Mario Piattini

Communities of Practice are an important centre of knowledge exchange in which feelings such as membership or trust play a significant role since both are the basis for a suitable sharing of knowledge. However, current Communities of Practice are often “virtual” as their members may be geographically distributed. This makes it more difficult for a feeling of trust to take place. In this paper we describe a trust model designed to help software agents, which represent communities of practice members, to rate how trustworthy a knowledge source is. It is important to clarify that we also consider members as knowledge sources since, in fact, they are the most important knowledge providers.

K-SITE RULES - INTEGRATING BUSINESS RULES IN THE MAINSTREAM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING PRACTICE

José L. Martínez-Fernández, José C. González and Pablo Suárez

The technology for business rule based systems faces two important challenges: standardization and integration within conventional software development lifecycle models and tools. Despite the standardization effort carried out by international organizations, commercial tools incorporate their own flavours in rule languages, making difficult the migration among tools. On the other hand, although some business rules systems vendors incorporate interfaces to encapsulate decision models as web services, it is still difficult integrating business rules in traditional object-oriented analysis and design methodologies. This is the rationale behind the development of K-Site Rules, a tool that facilitates the cooperation of business people and software designers in business applications.

IMPROVING CASE RETRIEVAL PERFORMANCE THROUGH THE USE OF CLUSTERING TECHNIQUES

Paulo Tomé, Ernesto Costa and Luís Amaral

The performance of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) systems is highly depend on the performance of the retrieval phase. Usually, if the case memory has a large number of cases the system turn to be very slow. Several mechanisms have been proposed in order to prevent a full search of the case memory during the retrieval phase. In this work we propose a clustering technique applied to the memory of cases. But this strategy is applied to an intermediate level of information that defines paths to the cases. Algorithms to the retrieval and retention phase are also presented.

COMPARING PEOPLE IN THE ENTERPRISE

Gianluca Demartini

Enterprise Search Systems are requested to provide more and more functionalities for supporting decision at the management level. An important aspect to consider is the human power and the knowledge which is available. For this reason, in this paper we present an improved approach to compare experts in order to retrieve and present to the user the most appropriate candidates for a given project. We also propose an evaluation framework which will enable a fair comparison among Enterprise Search Systems (ESSs) facilitating the choice among several available products.

RULE EVOLUTION APPROACH FOR MINING MULTIVARIATE TIME SERIES DATA

Viet-An Nguyen and Vivekanand Gopalkrishnan

In the last two decades, time series data mining has been an attractive topic of numerous research, most of which only focus on the time series of a single attribute. However, in many real world problem, the data come in as the time series of multiple attributes among which there are some correlations. In this paper, we present a novel approach to model and predict the behaviors of multiple attributes time series data based on the idea of rule evolution. Our approach is divided in to separate steps, each of which can be accomplished by several machine learning techniques. This makes our system highly flexible, configurable and extendable. Experiments are performed on real-world database, and the results demonstrate that our system has substantial estimation reliability and prediction accuracy.

A JOINT OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM FOR DISPATCHING TASKS IN AGENT-BASED WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Pavlos Delias, Anastasios Doulamis and Nikolaos Matsatsinis

Workflow problems generally require the coordination of many workers; machines and computers. Agents provide a natural mechanism for modelling a system where multiple actors operate, but they do not explicitly support coordination schemes. Efficient task allocation to these actors is a fundamental coordination prerequisite. A competent allocation policy should address both system performance issues and users’ quality demands. Since these factors are often contradictory, an efficient solution is hard to be identified. In this study, we suggest a task delegation strategy that jointly optimizes system performance (as expressed by workload balancing) and quality demands (as expressed by minimum task overlapping). A consistent modelling approach allows us to transform data of both these factors into a matrix format. The next step is to exploit the Ky-fan theorem and the notion of generalized eigenvalues to optimally solve the task allocation problem. A simple scheduling policy and an experimental setup were applied to test the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

SIFT APPROACH FOR BALL RECOGNITION IN SOCCER IMAGES

M. Leo, T. D’Orazio, N. Mosca and A. Distante

In this paper a new method for ball recognition in soccer images is proposed. It detects the ball position in each frame but, differently from related previous approaches, it does not require a long and tedious phase to built different positive training sets in order to properly manage the great variance in ball appearance. Moreover it does not need any negative training set, avoiding the difficulties to build it that occur when, as in the soccer context, negative examples abound. A large number of experiments have been carried out on image sequences acquired during real matches of the Italian Soccer “Serie A” championship. The reported experiments demonstrate the satisfactory capability of the proposed approach to recognize the ball.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR WOUND IMAGE UNDERSTANDING

Augustin Prodan, Mădălina Rusu, Remus Câmpean and Rodica Prodan

This paper presents an Artificial Intelligence framework for analyzing, processing and understanding wound images, to be used in teaching, learning and research activities. Based on new paradigms of the Artificial Intelligence, we intend to promote e-learning technologies in medical, pharmaceutical and health care domains. We use Java and XML technologies to build models for various categories of wounds, due to various aetiologies. Colour and texture information provide the infrastructure for a structured approach to non-invasive wound assessment. Relying on this information, we identify the main barriers to wound healing, such as tissue non-viable, infection, inflammation, moisture imbalance, or edge non-advancing. This framework provides the infrastructure for preparing e-learning scenarios based on practice and real world experiences. We make experiments for wound healing simulation using various treatments and compare the results with experimental observations. Our experiments are supported by XML based databases containing knowledge extracted from previous wound healing experiences and from medical experts knowledge. Our work is based on a continuous collaboration with physicians and wound care experts, because it is necessary to make a rigorous classification for various categories of wounds. To implement the e-learning tools, we use Java technologies for dynamic processes and XML technologies for dynamic content.

K-NN: ESTIMATING AN ADEQUATE VALUE FOR PARAMETER K

Bruno Borsato, Alexandre Plastino and Luiz Merschmann

The k-NN (k Nearest Neighbours) classification technique is characterized by its simplicity and efficient performance on many databases. However, the good performance of this method relies on the choice of an appropriate value for the input parameter k. In this work, we propose methods to estimate an adequate value for parameter k for any given database. Experimental results have shown that, in terms of predictive accuracy, k-NN using the estimated value for k usually outperforms k-NN with the values commonly used for k, as well as well-known methods such as decision trees and naive Bayes classification.

AWARENESS IN PROJECT INFORMATION SPACES FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Stefan Boddy, Matthew Wetherill, Yacine Rezgui and Grahame Cooper

The paper argues that facilitating timely and contextually grounded communication could help improve both coordination and decision making / problem solving in the construction project process. The paper discusses the authors’ previous work in construction IT, as well as related literature, and the findings that have led to develop a framework for awareness of activity in project information spaces. A detailed description of the conceptual model and software architecture of the proposed resource awareness framework is given, followed by directions for future research

THE LINGUISTIC GENERALIZED OWA OPERATOR AND ITS APPLICATION IN STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

José M. Merigó and Anna M. Gil-Lafuente

We introduce the linguistic generalized ordered weighted averaging (LGOWA) operator. It is a new aggregation operator that uses linguistic information and generalized means in the OWA operator. It is very useful for uncertain situations where the available information can not be assessed with numerical values but it is possible to use linguistic assessments. This aggregation operator generalizes a wide range of aggregation operators that use linguistic information such as the linguistic generalized mean (LGM), the linguistic weighted generalized mean (LWGM), the linguistic OWA (LOWA) operator, the linguistic ordered weighted geometric (LOWG) operator and the linguistic ordered weighted quadratic averaging (LOWQA) operator. We also introduce a new type of Quasi-LOWA operator by using quasi-arithmetic means in the LOWA operator. Finally, we develop an application of the new approach. We analyze a decision making problem about selection of strategies

THE GENERALIZED HYBRID AVERAGING OPERATOR AND ITS APPLICATION IN FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING

José M. Merigó and Montserrat Casanovas

We present the generalized hybrid averaging (GHA) operator. It is a new aggregation operator that generalizes the hybrid averaging (HA) operator by using the generalized mean. Then, we are able to generalize a wide range of mean operators such as the HA, the hybrid geometric averaging (HGA), the hybrid quadratic averaging (HQA), etc. The HA is an aggregation operator that includes the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator and the weighted average (WA). Then, with the GHA, we are able to get all the particular cases obtained by using generalized means in the OWA and in the WA such as the weighted geometric mean, the ordered weighted geometric (OWG) operator, the weighted quadratic mean (WQM), etc. We further generalize the GHA by using quasi-arithmetic means. Then, we obtain the quasi-arithmetic hybrid averaging (Quasi-HA) operator. Finally, we apply the new approach in a financial decision making problem

ORGANIZATIONAL MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF SAFETY OCCURRENCE REPORTING IN AIR TRAFFIC

Alexei Sharpanskykh, Sybert H. Stroeve and Henk A. P. Blom

An Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is a complex organization that involves many parties with diverse goals performing a wide range of tasks. Due to this high complexity, inconsistencies and performance bottlenecks may occur in ATOs. By analysis such safety- and performance-related problems of an ATO can be identified. To perform reliable and profound analysis automated techniques are required. A formal model specification that comprises both prescriptive aspects of a formal organization and autonomous behavioral aspects of agents forms the basis for such techniques. This paper describes how such a model specification is developed and analyzed in the frames of a simulation case of incident reporting in the ATO.

GENETIC FEATURE SELECTION AND STATISTICAL CLASSIFICATION OF VOIDS IN CONCRETE STRUCTURE

G. Acciani, G. Fornarelli, D. Magarielli and D. Maiullari

In this work simulated ultrasonic waveforms in a concrete specimen obtained by a software based on finite element method were used to develop an automatic inspection method. A piezoelectric transducer is used to generate stress waves that are reflected by voids. Then the waves are received by another transducer set at a fixed distance from the first one on the same specimen surface. Time and frequency features has been extracted from the waveforms, the most significant features have been chosen by a genetic feature selection and the classification performances were estimated referring to a k-NN classifier.

DYNAMIC SEARCH-BASED TEST DATA GENERATION FOCUSED ON DATA FLOW PATHS

Anastasis A. Sofokleous and Andreas S. Andreou

Test data generation approaches produce sequences of input values until they determine a set of test cases that can test adequately the program under testing. This paper focuses on a search-based test data generation algorithm. It proposes a dynamic software testing framework which employs a specially designed genetic algorithm and utilises both control flow and data flow graphs, the former as a code coverage tool, whereas the latter for extracting data flow paths, to determine near to optimum set of test cases according to data flow criteria. Experimental results carried out on a pool of standard benchmark programs demonstrate the high performance and efficiency of the proposed approach, which are significantly better compared to related search-based test data generation methods.

REAL TIME CLUSTERING MODEL

J. Cheng, M. R. Sayeh and M. R. Zargham

This paper focuses on the development of a dynamic system model in unsupervised learning environment. This adaptive dynamic system consists of a set of energy functions which create valleys for representing clusters. Each valley represents a cluster of similar input patterns. The system includes a dynamic parameter for the clustering vigilance so that the cluster size or the quantizing resolution can be adaptive to the density of the input patterns. It also includes a factor for invoking competitive exclusion among the valleys; forcing only one label to be assigned to each cluster. Through several examples of different pattern clusters, it is shown that the model can successfully cluster these types of input patterns and form different sizes of clusters according to the size of the input patterns.

AN INTELLIGENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION

R. J. Kuo, L. Y. Lee and Tung-Lai Hu

This study intends to develop an intelligen decision support system which integrates both fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method and fuzzy data development analysis (DEA) for assisting organizations to make the supplier selection decision. A case study on an internationally well-known auto lighting OEM company shows that the proposed method is very well suitable for practical applications.

A MEMETIC-GRASP ALGORITHM FOR CLUSTERING

Yannis Marinakis, Magdalene Marinaki, Nikolaos Matsatsinis and Constantin Zopounidis

This paper presents a new memetic algorithm, which is based on the concepts of Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP), for optimally clustering N objects into K clusters. The proposed algorithm is a two phase algorithm which combines a memetic algorithm for the solution of the feature selection problem and a GRASP algorithm for the solution of the clustering problem. In this paper, contrary to the genetic algorithms, the evolution of each individual of the population is realized with the use of a PSO algorithm where each individual have to improve its physical movement following the basic principles of PSO until it will obtain the requirements to be selected as a parent. Its performance is compared with other popular metaheuristic methods like classic genetic algorithms, tabu search, GRASP, ant colony optimization and particle swarm optimization. In order to assess the efficacy of the proposed algorithm, this methodology is evaluated on datasets from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. The high performance of the proposed algorithm is achieved as the algorithm gives very good results and in some instances the percentage of the corrected clustered samples is very high and is larger than 96%

NURSE SCHEDULING BY COOPERATIVE GA WITH VARIABLE MUTATION OPERATOR

Shin-ya Uneme, Hikaru Kawano and Makoto Ohki

This paper proposes an effective mutation operator for the cooperative genetic algorithm (CGA) to solve a nurse scheduling problem. The nurse scheduling is very complex task for a clinical director in a general hospital. Even veteran director requires one or two weeks to create the schedule. Besides, we extend the nurse schedule to permit the change of the schedule. This permission has explosively increased computation time for the nurse scheduling. We propose the new mutation operator to solve the problem. The CGA with the new mutation operator has brought surprising effective results.

ANALYSING MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATABASES USING DATA MINING AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TO PROVIDE DECISION SUPPORT

Rajveer Singh Basra and Kevin J. Lu

After relational databases and data warehouses, the techniques used for data management have entered the next phase, Business Intelligence Tools. These tools provide enhanced business functionality by integrating data mining and advanced analytics into data warehouse systems to provide comprehensive support for the purposes of data management, analysis and decision support. In this paper, we introduce an on-going project aimed at developing BI tools on data warehouse systems for multi-dimensional analysis. A prototype has been developed and has been tested for two examples, which are also reported in this paper.

DISCOVERING EXPERT’S KNOWLEDGE FROM SEQUENCES OF DISCRETE EVENT CLASS OCCURRENCES

Le Goc Marc and Benayadi Nabil

his paper is concerned with the discovering of expert's knowledge from a sequence of alarms provided by a knowledge based system monitoring a dynamic process. The discovering process is based on the principles and the tools of the Stochastic Approach. In this framework, a sequence is represented under the form of a Markov chain from which binary relations between discrete event classes can be find and represented as abstract chronicles models. The problem with this approach is to reduce the search space as close as possible to the relations between the process variables. To this aim, we propose an adaptation of the J-Measure to the Stochastic Approach, the BJ-Measure, to build an entropic based heuristic that help in finding abstract chronicle models revealing strong relations between the process variables. The result of the application of this approach to a real world system, the Sachem system that controls the blast furnace of the Arcelor-Mittal Steel group, is provided in the paper, showing how the combination of the Stochastic Approach and the Information Theory allows finding the a priori expert's knowledge between blast furnace variables from a sequence of alarms.

ON CHECKING TEMPORAL-OBSERVATION SUBSUMPTION IN SIMILARITY-BASED DIAGNOSIS OF ACTIVE SYSTEMS

Gianfranco Lamperti, Federica Vivenzi and Marina Zanella

Similarity-based diagnosis of large active systems is supported by reuse of knowledge generated for solving previous diagnostic problems. Such knowledge is cumulatively stored in a knowledge-base, when the diagnostic session is over. When a new diagnostic problem is to be faced, the knowledge-base is queried in order to possibly find a similar, reusable problem. Checking problem-similarity requires, among other constraints, that the observation relevant to the new problem be subsumed by the observation relevant to the problem in the knowledge-base. However, checking observation-subsumption, following its formal definition, is time and space consuming. The bottleneck lies in the generation of a nondeterministic automaton, its subsequent transformation into a deterministic one (the index space of the observation), and a regular-language containment-checking. In order to speed up the diagnostic process, an alternative technique is proposed, based on the notion of coverage. Besides being effective, subsumption-checking via coverage is also efficient because no index-space generation or comparison is required. Experimental evidence supports this claim.

A MULTI AGENT SYSTEM MODEL TO EVALUATE THE DYNAMICS OF A COLLABORATIVE NETWORK

Ilaria Baffo, Giuseppe Confessore, Graziano Galiano and Silvia Rismondo

The paper provides a model based on the Multi Agent System (MAS) paradigm able to give a methodological base to evaluate the dynamics in a collaborative environment. The model dynamics is strictly driven by the competence concept. In the provided MAS the agents represent the actors operating on a given area. In particular, it is supposed the agents being composed by three distinct typologies: (i) the territorial agent, (ii) the enterprise agent, and (iii) the public agent. Each agent has its local information and goals, and interacts with the others by using an interaction protocol. The decision-making processes and the competences characterize in a specific way each one of the different agent typologies working on the system.

NEURAL NETWORKS APPLICATION TO FAULT DETECTION IN ELECTRICAL SUBSTATIONS

Luiz Biondi Neto, Pedro Henrique Gouvêa Coelho, Alexandre Mendonça Lopes, Marcelo Nestor da Silva and David Targueta

This paper proposes an application of neural networks to fault detection in electrical substations, particularly to the Parada Angélica Electrical Substation, part of the AMPLA Energy System provider in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For research purposes, that substation was modeled in a bay oriented fashion instead of component oriented. Moreover, the modeling process assumed a substation division in five sectors or set of bays comprising components and protection equipments. These five sectors are: 11 feed bays, 2 capacitor bank bays, 2 general/secundary bays, 2 line bays and 2 backward bays. Electrical power engineer experts mapped 291 faults into 134 alarms. The employed neural networks, also bay oriented, were trained using the Levenberg-Marquardt method, and the AMPLA experts validated training patterns, for each bay. The test patterns were directly obtained from the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) digital system signal, suitably decoded were supplied by AMPLA engineers. The resulting maximum percentage error obtained by the fault detection neural networks was within 1.5 % which indicates the success of the used neural networks to the fault detection problem. It should be stressed that the human experts should be the only ones responsible for the decision task and for returning the substation safely into normal operation after a fault occurrence. The role of the neural networks fault detectors are to support the decision making task done by the experts.

AN ONTOLOGY DRIVEN DATA MINING PROCESS

Laurent Brisson and Martine Collard

This paper deals with knowledge integration in a data mining process. We suggest to model domain knowledge during business understanding and data understanding steps in order to build an ontology driven information system (ODIS). This ODIS, dedicated to data mining tasks allows to use expert knowledge for efficient data selection, data preparation and model interpretation. Finally, we present a part-way interestingness measure between objective and subjective measure in order to evaluate model relevance according to expert knowledge.

MACHINE GROUPING IN CELLULAR MANUFACTURING SYSTEM USING TANDEM AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE WITH ACO BASED SIX SIGMA APPROACH

Iraj Mahdavi, Babak Shirazi and Mohammad Mahdi Paydar

Effective design of material handling devices is one of the most important decisions in cellular manufacturing system. Minimization of material handling operations could lead to optimization of overall operational costs. An automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a driverless vehicle used for the transportation of materials within a production plant partitioned into cells. The tandem layout is according to dividing workstations to some non-overlapping closed zones that in each zone a tandem automated guided vehicle (TAGV) is allocated for internal transfers. Also, among adjacent loops some places are determined for exchanging semi-produced parts. This paper illustrates a non-linear multi-objective problem for minimizing the material flow intra and inter-loops and minimization of maximum amount of inter cell flow, considering the limitation of TAGV work-loading. For reducing variability of material flow and establishing balanced loop layout, some new constraints have been added to the problem based on six sigma approach. Due to the complexity of the problem, ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is used for solving this model. Finally this approach has been compared with the existing methods to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed model.

NEGOTIATION SUPPORTED THROUGH RISK ASSESSMENT

Sérgio Assis Rodrigues, Jano Moreira de Souza and Melise de Paula

In organizations, decision-making processes usually require great effort in solving conflicts. These disagreements are generally time-consuming and jeopardize negotiations. Thus, negotiation planning is the key factor to balance negotiator’s expectations and reach an agreement. In this scenario, risk management tools play an important role in identifying possibly controversial points of view. This paper aims at presenting software which supports negotiation through risk assessment. The proposed software, named here RisNeg presents mechanisms which are able to identify, analyze, respond to, monitor, and control negotiation risks. RisNeg also provides Decision Trees to indicate the real chances of achieving agreement. Therefore, the use of such software may minimize the conflicts in the decision-making process.

ANYTIME AHP METHOD FOR PREFERENCES ELICITATION IN STEREOTYPE-BASED RECOMMENDER SYSTEM

Lior Rokach, Amnon Meisels and Alon Schclar

In stereotype-based recommendation systems, user profiles are represented as an affinity vector of stereotypes. Upon the registration of new users, the system needs to assign the new users to existing stereotypes. The AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology can be used for initial elicitation of user preferences. However, using the AHP procedure as-is will require the user to respond to a very long set of pairwise comparison questions. We suggest a novel method for converting AHP into an anytime approach. At each stage, the user may choose not to continue. However, the system is still able to provide some classification into a stereotype. The more answers the user provides, the more specific the classification becomes.

MULTICRITERIA DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Mariana Vassileva, Vassil Vassilev, Boris Staykov, Krassimira Genova and Danail Dochev

The paper presents a multicriteria decision support system, called MultiOptima. It consists of two independent parts - the MKA-2 system and the MKO-2 system. The MultiOptima system is designed to support the decision maker (DM) in modelling and solving different problems of multicriteria analysis and linear and linear integer problems of multicriteria optimization. The system implements four methods for multicriteria analysis, as well as an innovative generalized interactive method for multicriteria optimization with variable scalarization and parameterization, which can apply twelve scalarizing problems and is applicable for different ways of defining preferences by the decision maker. The class of the solved problems, the system structure, the implemented methods and the graphical user interface of the MKA-2 and MKO-2 systems are discussed in the paper. The MultiOptima system can be used both for education and for solving of real-life problems.

DETECTION OF INCOHERENCES IN A TECHNICAL AND NORMATIVE DOCUMENT CORPUS

Susana Martin-Toral, Gregorio I. Sainz-Palmero and Yannis Dimitriadis

This paper is focused on the problems and effects generated by the use of a document corpus with mistakes, content incoherences amongst its connected documents and other errors. The problem introduced in this paper is very relevant in any area of human activity when this corpus is employed as base element in the relationships amongst company partners, legal support, etc., and the way in which these incoherences can be detected. These problems can appear in several ways, and the produced effects are different, but a common situation exists in those areas of activity where a lot of linked documents must be generated, managed and updated by different authors. This paper describes some ways of this problem in the case of a technical document corpus employed amongst partners, and the solution framework developed for this case. Several types of incoherences have been detected and formulated, connected with problems described in other research areas such as information extraction and retrieval, text mining, document interpretation and others, but all of them have been bounded and introduced from the point of view of document incoherences and their effects, in company context specially. Finally the computational architecture and methodology employed are described and the more than reasonable initial results are discussed.

ONTOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR THE CONFORMITY CHECKING MODELING IN CONSTRUCTION

Catherine Faron-Zucker, Nhan Le Thanh, Anastasiya Yurchyshyna and Alain Zarli

This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R called to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project against a set of construction norms. Construction projects are represented by RDF graphs and norms are formalized as SPARQL queries. The conformity-checking process itself is based on the matching of these queries and graphs. The efficiency of the presented approach relies on two main keystones: the ontological representation of construction regulation knowledge and the knowledge extraction process, which is based on the achieved ontological knowledge and is conducted according to the specific objective of conformity checking. The reasoning model also takes into account the meta-knowledge acquired and formalized with the help of CSTB experts, which allows controlling and managing the checking process itself. The queries representing construction norms are annotated and organised according to these annotations. Finally, the annotations of construction norms help to explain the results of the validation process, especially in case of failure.

A NOVEL TERM WEIGHTING SCHEME FOR A FUZZY LOGIC BASED INTELLIGENT WEB AGENT

Ariel Gómez, Jorge Ropero, Carlos León and Alejandro Carrasco

Term Weighting is one of the most important tasks for Information Retrieval. To solve Term Weighting problem, many authors have considered Vector Space Model, and specifically, they have used the TF-IDF method. As this method does not take into account some of the features of terms, we propose a novel alternative fuzzy logic based method for Term Weighting in Information Retrieval. Term Weighting is an essential task for the Web Intelligent Agent we are developing. Intelligent Agent mode of operation is also explained in the paper. An application of the Intelligent Agent will be in operation soon for the University of Seville web portal.

EXPLORATIVE ASSOCIATION MINING - CROSS-SECTOR KNOWLEDGE FOR THE EUROPEAN HOME TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Jessica Huster, Michael Spenke and Gerrit Bury

Trend-related industries like the European home-textile industry have to keep pace of the quickly changing product trends and consuming behaviour to avoid faulty production and the associated severe economic risk. The industry sector lacks cross-sector knowledge and knowledge about its end consumers. Click and ordering data reflect the consuming behaviour as well as the preferences and their changes. They are therefore, beside other indicators, an important trend indicator, which is not used up to now by the European home textile industry. In this paper, we report on the design and solution of the Trend Analyser association mining component that helps designers and product developers to better understand their end consumers. Our component uses explorative data mining to perform a market basket analysis and identify interesting associations. Such associations, once found, can help the decision makers of the home-textile industry to understand and study the consuming behaviour and identify early changes in their preferences in order to perform a better production planning

CONGESTION CONTROL SYSTEM WITH PID CONTROLLER USING FUZZY ADAPTATION MECHANISM

Magdalena Turowska

The congestion control in computer network is a problem of controlling a specific object such as a computer network. Several attempts have been made to develop congestion controllers, mostly using linear control theory. The conventional controller PID generally does not work well for nonlinear, uncertain, higher order and time-delayed systems. The paper provides an adaptation mechanism designed to prevent unstable behavior, with fuzzy rules, and with an inference mechanism that identifies the possible sources of nonlinear behavior. The adaptation mechanism can be designed to adjust PID controller tuning parameters when oscillatory behavior is detected. Tests in nonlinear and uncertainty process are performed.

MULTICRITERIA DECISION AID USE FOR CONFLICTING AGENT PREFERENCES MODELING UNDER NEGOTIATION

Noria Taghezout and Abdelkader Adla

In most agent applications, the autonomous components need to interact. They need to communicate in order to resolve differences of opinion and conflicts of interest. They also need to work together or simply inform each other. It is however important to note that a lot of existing works do not take into account the agent preferences. In addition, individual decisions in multi-agent domains are rarely enough for producing optimal plans which satisfy all the goals. Therefore, agents need to cooperate to generate the best multi-agent plan through sharing tentative solutions, exchanging sub goals, or having other agents to satisfy their goals. In this paper, we propose a new negotiation mechanism independent of domain properties to handle real-time goals. The mechanism is based on The well-known Contract net Protocol. Integrated Station of Production agents will be equipped with a sufficient behavior to carry out practical operations and simultaneously react to the complex problems caused by the dynamic scheduling in real situations. These agents express their preferences by using ELECTRE III method in order to resolve differences. The approach is tested for simple scenarios.

BAYESIAN-NETWORKS-BASED MISUSE AND ANOMALY PREVENTION SYSTEM

Pablo Garcia Bringas, Yoseba K. Penya, Stefano Paraboschi and Paolo Salvaneschi

Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) aim at preventing network attacks and unauthorised remote use of computers. More accurately, depending the kind of attack it targets, an NIDS can be oriented to detect misuses (by defining all possible attacks) or anomalies (by modelling legitimate behaviour and detecting those that do not fit on that model). Still, since their problem knowledge is restricted to possible attacks, misuse detection fails to notice anomalies and vice versa. Against this, we present here ESIDE-Depian, the first unified misuse and anomaly prevention system based on Bayesian Networks to analyse completely network packets, and the strategy to create a consistent knowledge model that integrates misuse and anomaly-based knowledge. Finally, we evaluate ESIDE-Depian against well-known and new attacks showing how it outperforms a well-established commercial NIDS.

AN EFFICIENT HYBRID METHOD FOR CLUSTERING PROBLEMS

H. Panahi and R. Tavakkoli-Moghaddam

This paper presents a hybrid efficient method based on ant colony optimization (ACO) and genetic algorithms (GA) for clustering problems. This proposed method assumes that agents of ACO has life cycle which is variable and changes by a special function. We also apply three local searches on the basis of heuristic rules for the given clustering problem. This proposed method is implemented and tested on two real datasets. Further, its performance is compared with other well-known meta-heuristics, such as ACO, GA, simulated annealing (SA), and tabu search (TS). At last, paired comparison t-test is also applied to proof the efficiency of our proposed method. The associated output gives very encouraging results; however, the proposed method needs longer time to proceed.

MODEL FOR TRUST WITHIN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

Dayse de Mello Benzi, Rafael Timóteo de Sousa Júnior, Christophe Bidan and Ludovic Mé

This work has for objective to present a model of trust in the management of the information technology. It presents relevant aspects on the use of trust on the Information Technology (IT) Management. It comments on the definitions of trust relates the contemporary business environment to crescent risks, as far as trust is concerned, based on the complexity deriving from globalized relationships. It focuses IT management, emphasizing the necessity of alignment with the organizational strategies and the harmonization with the end-activity of the companies. To do so it approaches the impacts of the trust in IT management where recent studies identify that organizations whose IT management is business-focused run less risks and get advantages in relation to others. In this context, it approaches the understanding that the safe route is tied to the trust, which may provide highly desirable results to management, as long as they are controlled and measured, making IT organizations to acquire greater effectiveness in their alignment to the organizational strategy.

OPTIMAL LAYOUT SELECTION USING PETRI NET IN AN AUTOMATED ASSEMBLING SHOP

Iraj Mahdavi, Mohammad Mahdi Paydar, Babak Shirazi and Magsud Solimanpur

Abstract In today's competitive manufacturing systems, it is crucial to respond quickly to the demand of customers and to decrease total cost of production. To achieve higher performance of automated assembling shop, it is needed to utilize methods to minimize production cycle time (makespan) and work-in-process (WIP) in buffers. This paper intends to focus on the selection of optimal layout based on allocation of machines to different locations as they can perform similar operations with different processing times. The time Petri net (TPN) has been used to illustrate the applications of proposed model in case study.

COMPONENT-BASED SUPPORT FOR KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS

Sabine Moisan

Software development of knowledge-based systems is difficult. To alleviate this task we propose to apply software engineering techniques, such as component frameworks. This paper investigates {\sc Blocks}, a component framework for designing and reengineering knowledge-based system inference engines. {\sc Blocks} provides reusable building blocks common to various engines, independently on their task or application domain. We have used its components to build several engines for various tasks (planning, classification, model calibration) in different domains. The approach appears well fitted to knowledge-based system generators; it allows a significant gain in time, as well as it improves sofware readability and safeness.

HIPPOCRATIC MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS

Ludivine Crépin, Laurent Vercouter, Olivier Boissier, Yves Demazeau and François Jacquenet

The current evolution of Information Technology leads to the increase of automatic data processing over multiple information systems. In this context, the lack of user’s control on their personal data leads to the crucial question of their privacy preservation. A typical example concerns the disclosure of confidential identity information, without the owner’s agreement. This problem is stressed in multi-agent systems (MAS) where users delegate their control on their personal data to autonomous agents. Interaction being one of the main mechanism in MAS, sensitive information exchange and processing are a key issue with respect to privacy. In this article, we propose a model, ”Hippocratic Multi-Agent System” (HiMAS), to tackle this problem. This model defines a set of principles bearing on an agency to preserve the users’ privacy and agents’ privacy. In order to illustrate our model, we have chosen the concrete application of decentralized calendars management.

A NEW STATISTICAL MODEL - TO DESIGNING A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Morteza Zahedi, Ali Pouyan and Esmat Hejazi

In this paper we propose a new statistical approach to simulate a technical support center as a help desk for a web site which makes use of scientific documents and university protocols for the students and lecturers. In contrary to the existing statistical approaches which are modelled by general statistical graphs named Bayesian network or decision graph, we propose a statistical approach which can be used consistently in different domains and problem spaces without any need for a new designing regarding the new domain. Furthermore, the proposed statistical model which is trained by a set of training data collected from the experts in a special field is applicable to high-dimensional, large-sized, non-geometric-based data for decision making support.

SOLVING THE UNIVERSITY COURSE TIMETABLING PROBLEM BY HYPERCUBE FRAMEWORK FOR ACO

Jose Miguel Rubio L., Broderick Crawford L. and Franklin Johnson P.

We present a resolution technique of the University course Timetabling problem (UCTP), this technique is based in the implementation of Hypercube framework using the Max-Min Ant System. We presented the structure of the problem and the design of resolution using this framework. A simplification of the UCTP problem is used, involving three types of hard restrictions and three types of soft restrictions. We solve experimental instances and competition instances the results are presented of comparative form to other techniques. We presented an appropriate construction graph and pheromone matrix representation. A representative instance is solved in addition to the schedules of the school of Computer science engineering at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso. The results obtained for this instance appear. Finally the conclusions are given.

THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTEGRATED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM ON LABOR MARKET

Dongjin Yu, Shixin Feng and Guangming Wang

Nowadays labor resources in China face the fierce situation and competition in their employment. The decision support system on labor market helps the government to have a sound grip of the composition, migration and trend of regional supply and requirement for labor resources. This paper proposes an integrated architecture for decision support system on regional labor market, which leverages the Service Oriented Architecture and provides the end-user oriented flexibility. The real system implemented on this architecture, called as LMDSS, is also presented to show the features of the multi-dimension analysis of job introducing and the prediction of unemployment rates in the future.

DISCOVERING MULTI-PERSPECTIVE PROCESS MODELS

Francesco Folino, Gianluigi Greco, Antonella Guzzo and Luigi Pontieri

Process Mining techniques exploit the information stored in the logs of a variety of transactional systems in order to extract some high-level process model, which can be used for both analysis and design tasks. The vast majority of these techniques focus on ``structural'' (control-flow oriented) aspects of the process, in that they only consider what elementary activities were executed and in which ordering. In this way, any other ``non-structural'' information, usually kept in real log systems (e.g., activity executors, parameter values, and time-stamps), is completely disregarded, yet being a potential source of knowledge. In this paper, we move towards overcoming this limitation by proposing a novel approach to the discovery of process models, where the behavior of a process is characterized from both structural and non-structural viewpoints. In a nutshell, different variants of the process are recognized through a structural clustering approach, and represented with a collection of specific workflow models, which provide the analyst with an effective description of typical behavior classes. Relevant correlations between these classes and non-structural properties are made explicit through a rule-based classification model, which can be exploited for both explanation and prediction purposes. Results on real-life application scenario evidence that discovered models are often very accurate and capture important knowledge on the process behavior.

A SIMILARITY MEASURE FOR MUSIC SIGNALS

Thibault Langlois and Gonçalo Marques

One of the goals in the field of Music Information Retrieval is to obtain a measure of similarity between two musical recordings. Such a measure is at the core of automatic classification, query, and retrieval systems, which have become a necessity due to the ever increasing availability and size of musical databases. This paper proposes a method for calculating a similarity distance between two music signals. The method extracts a set of features from the audio recordings, models the features, and determines the distance between models. While further work is needed, preliminary results show that the proposed method has the potential to be used as a similarity measure for musical signals.

AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF MIDI TRACKS

Alexandre Bernardo and Thibault Langlois

This paper presents a system for classifying MIDI tracks according to six predefined classes: Solo, Melody, Melody and Solo, Drums, Bass and Harmony. No metadata present in the MIDI file is used. The MIDI data (pitch of notes, onset time and note durations are preprocessed in order to extract a set of features. These data sets are then used with several classifiers (Neural Networks, k-NN).

MANAGING CHARACTERISTIC ORGANIZATION KNOWLEDGE IN COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS

Ekaterina Ermilova and Hamideh Afsarmanesh

Modeling and management of the knowledge/information related to the organizations is fundamental to efficient operation of the Collaborative Networked Organizations (CNOs). Continuous changes in different aspects of involved organizations, is an unavoidable reflection to the dynamic changes in the demands of stakeholders and customers in the market / society. Organizations’ profiles, and especially their competency characteristics tailored to the requirements of opportunities emerging in the market, need to be modeled and managed. Furthermore, mechanisms are required for handling the flexible representation and processing of the organizations’ knowledge. Both research and practice have shown that the formation of collaborative networked organizations requires pre-establishment of a cluster, also called a breeding environment. In this paper we address the Virtual organizations Breeding Environments (VBEs), which provide the necessary conditions and support for configuration and creation of Virtual Organizations (VOs). Using the ontology engineering approaches, we present an approach for modeling of organizations’ knowledge inside VBEs, and specify the ontology for their profiles and competencies. Furthermore, we present the required mechanisms for management of the organizations’ knowledge, and specify the functionality required to manipulate organizations’ information through the life cycle of VBEs. The paper also addresses the logical design of a database for storage of organizations’ information and for the visualization of organizations’ profile and competency knowledge.

INTEGRATING SIMULATION INTO A WEB-BASED DECISION SUPPORT TOOL FOR THE COST EFFECTIVE PLANNING OF VESSEL DISMANTLING PROCESSES

Charalambia Pylarinou, Dimitrios Koumanakos, Antonios Hapsas, Nikos Karacapilidis and Emmanuel Adamides

Vessel dismantling is a complex process, which requires advanced planning subject to environmentally safe as well as cost and energy effective standards. Aiming to facilitate stakeholders involved in such activities and to augment the quality of their related decision making, this paper presents an innovative decision support system that takes into account the diversity of the associated constraints (i.e. resources as well as environmental issues, health and safety of the workforce, etc.). The proposed system aids stakeholders make decisions on qualitative issues such as the appropriateness of a disposal methodology or the level of the safety of the workforce in a specific dismantling yard. Being seamlessly integrated with a visual interactive simulation environment, the system facilitates the collaborative design and redesign of dismantling processes.

SEMI-AUTOMATIC PARTITIONING BY VISUAL SNAPSHOPTS

Rosa Matias, João-Paulo Moura, Paulo Martins and Fátima Rodrigues

It is stated that a closer intervention of experts in knowledge discovery can complement and improve the effectiveness of results. Ally to the automatic methods visualization methods can be built-in previous, subsequent or in intermediate stages; in partitioning methods visualization of intermediate results raises questions about what is a relevant stopping stage. In this paper our efforts are in partitioning data with a spatial component. Stopping stages are configured by experts and are a function of both spatial and non-spatial data. In this work a data mining workflow is proposed to control the visualization of intermediate results being defined concepts like data mining transaction, data mining save point and data mining snapshot. For abstracting visualization of results novel visual metaphors are changed allowing a better exploration of produced clusters. In knowledge discovery, experts are responsible for interpret and validate final results; certainly it would be appropriate validating intermediate results, avoiding, for instance, losing time when in disagreement (leave the process) starting it with new hypnoses, allow data reduction when a cluster is found, understand deeper attribute combination.

FUZZY INDUCED AGGREGATION OPERATORS IN DECISION MAKING WITH DEMPSTER-SHAFER BELIEF STRUCTURE

José M. Merigó and Montserrat Casanovas

We develop a new approach for decision making with Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence when the available information is uncertain and it can be assessed with fuzzy numbers. With this approach, we are able to represent the problem without losing relevant information, so the decision maker knows exactly which are the different alternatives and their consequences. For doing so, we suggest the use of different types of fuzzy induced aggregation operators in the problem. Then, we can aggregate the information considering all the different scenarios that could happen in the analysis. As a result, we get new types of fuzzy induced aggregation operators such as the belief structure – fuzzy induced ordered weighted averaging (BS-FIOWA) and the belief structure – fuzzy induced hybrid averaging (BS-FIHA) operator. We study some of their main properties. We also develop an application of the new approach in a financial decision making problem about selection of financial strategies.

AN APPROXIMATE PROPAGATION ALGORITHM FOR PRODUCT-BASED POSSIBILISTIC NETWORKS

Amen Ajroud, Mohamed Nazih Omri, Salem Benferhat and Habib Youssef

Product-Based Possibilistic Networks appear as an important tool to efficiently represent possibility distributions. They are close to Probabilistic Networks since both handle numerical values. Inference approach is a crucial task to propagate information into network when special information called evidence is observed. This task becomes more difficult when the network is multiply connected. In this paper, we propose an Approximate Inference Algorithm for Product-Based Possibilistic Networks. This inference task is an adaptation of the probabilistic approach “Loopy Belief Propagation” (LBP) for possibilistic networks.

A PARTIAL-VIEW COOPERATION FRAMEWORK BASED ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF ORGANIZED ACTION

Carmen Lucia Ruybal dos Santos, Sandra Sandri and Christophe Sibertin-Blanc

In this work, we address the modeling of a fragment of the Sociology of Organized Action, making it possible to deal with a hierarchy of the resources of an organization, allowing each member of this organization to have his own view of the state offairs. We illustrate our approach with an example from the sociology literature and indicate its potential use in crisis management and command and control.

RESEARCH ON LEARNING-OBJECT MANAGEMENT

Erla Morales, Francisco García and Ángela Barrón Ruiz

In todays’ world learning objects (LOs) management is an important subject to study due to their interoperability possibilities. However it is not very promoted because there are some things to solve. LOs need to be designed in order to achieve educational goals and their metadata need to provide useful information to reuse them in a suitable way. In this paper we present an experience in learning object design together with pedagogical sense, which were accompanied with our proposed metadata information and evaluated according to our LO instrument. Finally we present our results and analysis of this experience.

FACILITATION SUPPORT FOR ON-LINE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS BY MESSAGE FEATURE MAP

Noriko Imafuji Yasui, Shunsuke Saruwatari, Xavier Llorà and David E. Goldberg

In order to build marketing strategies, face-to-face focus group discussions have been one of the reliable approaches for collecting variety of ideas and opinions for long years. Although various network-based communication tools have been available, on-line focus group discussions have not been popular yet. This is due to complications in facilitation of on-line discussions. The goal of this paper is to maximize the profit from on-line focus group discussions by supporting facilitators' task. First, we propose a message feature map and two metrics for measuring message feature; centrality and novelty. The message feature map plots discussions messages on centrality-novelty plane, and gives us intuitive understanding of the discussions in various aspects. Then, reporting experimental results by using real data collected in on-line focus group discussions, we discuss how we can utilize the message feature map for the effective facilitations.

AN EVALUATION INSTRUMENT FOR LEARNING OBJECT QUALITY AND MANAGEMENT

Erla M. Morales Morgado, Francisco J. García Peñalvo and Ángela Barrón Ruiz

On of the most important thing for getting a suitable LO management is to have the possibility to value them and manage them according to their quality. LOs need to be evaluated taking into account technical and pedagogical points of view. Also, LOs evaluation need to consider their characteristics as units of learning, size or granularity level. On this basis this paper consist on a proposal for a specific LOs evaluation instrument which take into account the things mentioned before and the results of its expert evaluation.

MULTIAGENTS IN MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION LINES - DESIGNING FAULT TOLERANT ADAPTIVE PRODUCTION LINES

Eugen Volk

The usage of multiagents for autonomous, fault tolerant and flexible adaptation of production lines is not widespread in industrial applications. This paper presents usage of multi-agents in industrial applications by showing a realization within a fictive example of a car body manufacturing production line. The mechanism presented her for coordination of agents in multiagent based production line factory are based on contract net protocol and uses ontological matching of individual task ontologies, to find an appropriate contractor.

CELLULAR AUTOMATA BASED MODELING OF THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL NETWORKS: A CASE IN DENTISTRY

Rubens A. Zimbres, Eliane P. Z. Brito and Pedro P. B. de Oliveira

The stability and evolution of networks is a research area that is not well explored. There is an inadequate focus to the partner characteristics and to the environment influence over the evolution process. This study analyzed social network formation in its dynamic aspect through agent-based modeling, using cellular automata. Relationships and decisions were modeled. Along the interactions the emergence of consensus in the network could be observed and the results show that the more impulsive the individuals in a network, the stronger will be the ties among them. Convergence of partner selection criteria could also be noticed. Additionally, a structural hole could be shown to have a local influence on how it moves an agent away from the network. This work waves positively towards using cellular automata in social (in the case, business) networks modeling, regardless of their well-known limitations for these kinds of problems.

RULES AS SIMPLE WAY TO MODEL KNOWLEDGE - CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN PROMISE AND REALITY

Valentin Zacharias

There is a considerable gap between the potential of rules bases to be a simpler way to formulate high level knowledge and the reality of tiresome and error prone rule bases creation processes. Based on the experience from three rule base creation projects this paper identifies reasons for this gap between promise and reality and proposes steps that can be taken to close it. An architecture for a complete support of rule base development is presented.

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR THE DESIGN OF PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Max Völkel and Andreas Abecker

Knowledge Management (KM) tools have become an established part of Enterprise Information Systems in the recent years. While traditional KM initiatives typically address knowledge exchange within project teams, communities of practice, within a whole enterprise, or even within the extended enterprise (customer knowledge management, KM in the supply chain, ...), the relatively new area of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) investigates how knowledge workers can enhance their productivity by better encoding, accessing, and reusing their personal knowledge. In this paper, we present a cost-benefit analysis of PKM -- where benefit comes from efficiently finding task-specific, useful knowledge items, and costs come from search efforts as well as externalisation and (re-)structuring efforts for the personal knowledge base.

TOWARDS ENCOURAGING CONTRIBUTION TO A SEMANTIC WIKI-BASED EXPERIENCE REPOSITORY

Alessandro dos S. Borges and Germana M. da Nóbrega

Recent trends on organizational context include tools allowing collaboration under a perspective of emergent structure rather than a priori embeded one. While these new tools are suitable for promoting spontaneous large-scale content evolution and/or communication, bringing them to companies intranets seems still a challenge. In educational settings, findings when applying mechanisms that provide awareness on community needs improve quality and help to achieve on-time content evolution. We are currently defining a mechanism inspired both in a particular company and based on theoretical background from previous work from literature.

EVS PROCESS MINER: INCORPORATING IDEAS FROM SEARCH AND ETL INTO PROCESS MINING

Jon Espen Ingvaldsen and Jon Atle Gulla

Search is the process of locating information that matches a given query. Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) editors provide a user friendly and flexible environment for creating operation chains and digging into and explore data. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a process mining framework, the EVS Process Miner, which incorporates ideas from search and ETL. We also describe two industrial cases that show the value of applying search and graphical operation chain environments in process mining work.

MULTIPLICATIVE NEURAL NETWORK WITH SWARM INTELLIGENCE FOR MULTICARRIER TRANSMITTER

Nibaldo Rodriguez, Claudio Cubillos and Orlando Duran

In this paper, we propose a novel effective distortion compensation scheme suitably developed to reduce nonlinearities of the traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems at the multicarrier transmitter side. This compensator is developed in order to combine in the most effective way the capability of the quantum particle swarm optimization technique and multiplicative neural networks. The compensator effectiveness has been tested through computer simulations. The improvements in the reduction of constellation warping and enhanced performance in terms of the bit error rate (BER) are offered for the TWTA with an input back-off level of $0$ dB.

SEMANTIC ANNOTATION OF EPC MODELS IN ENGINEERING DOMAINS BY EMPLOYING SEMANTIC PATTERNS

Andreas Bögl, Michael Schrefl, Gustav Pomberger and Norbert Weber

Extracting process patterns from EPC (Event-Driven Process Chain) models requires to perform a semantic analysis of EPC functions and events. An automated semantic analysis faces the problem that an essential part of the EPC semantics is bound to natural language expressions in functions and events with undefined process semantics. The semantic annotation of natural language expressions provides an adequate approach to tackle this problem. This paper introduces a novel approach that enables an automated semantic annotation of EPC functions and events. It employs semantic patterns to analyze the textual structure of natural language expressions and to relate them to instances of a reference ontology. Thus semantically annotated EPC model elements are input for subsequent semantic analysis.

A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR INTEGRATED ASSEMBLY AND DISASSEMBLY PLANNING USING A GA APPROACH

Yuan-Jye Tseng, Hsiao-Ting Kao and Feng-Yi Huang

In a decision support system for a complete product life cycle management, both assembly planning and disassembly planning need to be considered for producing an assembled product. To produce an assembled product, an assembly planning scheme is required to generate a proper assembly sequence with which the components can be grouped and fixed to construct a final product. At the end of the product life cycle, a disassembly planning scheme is performed to generate a disassembly sequence to disassemble and recycle the product. In this research, a new decision support system for a complete product life cycle management by integrating assembly and disassembly planning is presented. First, the spatial relationships of the components and the precedence of the assembly and disassembly operations are analyzed. Second, a genetic algorithm approach is applied to evaluate the integrated assembly and disassembly costs to find the good assembly sequences and disassembly sequences. A cost function by integrating the assembly costs and disassembly costs is formulated and used as an objective function. An example product is demonstrated and discussed. The test result shows that the developed model of the decision support system is feasible and effective for integrating assembly and disassembly planning with a low integrated assembly and disassembly cost.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION WITH OM: A HEURISTIC SOLUTION

Adolfo Guzman-Arenas and Alma-Delia Cuevas-Rasgado

Knowledge scattered through the Web inside unstructured documents (text documents) can not be easily interpreted by computers. To do so, knowledge contained in a document must be extracted by a parser or a person and poured into a suitable data structure, the best of which for this purpose are ontologies. By appropriate merging of these “individual” ontologies, taking into account repetitions, redundancies, synonyms, meronyms, different level of details, different viewpoints of the concepts involved, and contradictions, a large and useful ontology could be constructed. This paper presents OM, an automatic ontology merger that achieves the fusion of two ontologies without human intervention. By repeated application of OM, an ever growing ontology can be constructed about a given area of knowledge. Current uses of OM give hope to achieve automatic knowledge acquisition. Two tasks remain: the conversion of a given text to its corresponding ontology (by a combination of syntactic and semantic analysis) is not yet automatically done; and the exploitation of the large resulting ontology is still under development.

A TOOL OF DECISION SUPPORT FOR THE NATURAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Nadia Abdat and Zaia Alimazighi

In this paper, we propose a space balanced scorecard for the seismic risk management. Indeed, to install an effective policy of prevention against the natural risk, the phenomenon should be controlled. This can be carried out only after a good knowledge of this last. From where, the need for having a large volume of information coming from various sources. The Geographical information systems (GIS) are largely used for the decision support. However, they give a rather static vision whereas the management of an environmental process in general and natural risk in particular requires tools based on dynamic models. In addition, the scorecards are often used to build decision support systems. In this paper, we propose a balanced scorecard for the management of a seismic risk which is established on the basis of spatial indicators

A BI-CRITERIA SCHEDULING FRAMEWORK FOR THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF MOBILE PROVIDERS

Göktürk Gezer, İlker Yaz, Hasan Mert Taymaz, Tansel Özyer and Reda Alhajj

In delivery sector answering the requests of customers quickly and efficiently became very important for recent years. Thus people who are working in delivery sector began challenging to build well settled synchronization for more complex delivering system. In this synchronization they try to keep customers information, providers (who answering requests) information, divide requests for providers and inform them about their recent jobs, provide fast and efficient delivering system. All of these lead to acquire customer pleasure with firm pleasure. We believe that using mobile device such as PDA with a host PC for building well settled synchronization with providers and host is simple but useful way. The aim of host is arranging received requests and sending them with their information to convenient providers by considering all providers position and their job intensity. So request would be answered as quickly as possible. Also providers can access information about their jobs and the shortest path for reaching these jobs by using their PDA. Our system makes all things simple and easy for people. Providers don’t have to care about how to reach their jobs and workers arrange requests don’t have to consider about convenient providers.

ALGORITHMS FOR ESTIMATING FOREST INVENTORY PARAMETERS FROM DATA ACQUIRED BY REMOTE SENSING METHODS

Ingus Smits and Salvis Dagis

Two technologies LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and aero photography has very big potential in forest taxation, which is a process of gathering different parameters of specific region. Both technologies can be used for finding different parameters of interest, such as number of trees, tree height and other. This paper presents usage analyze results for LiDAR and aero photography and describes their possibilities. Also it contains analyze of tree identifying algorithms and describes ways of their employment in different processes.

A DATA MINING METHOD BASED ON THE VARIABILITY OF THE CUSTOMER CONSUMPTION - A SPECIAL APPLICATION ON ELECTRIC UTILITY COMPANIES

Félix Biscarri, Ignacio Monedero, Carlos León, Juán I. Guerrero, Jesús Biscarri and Rocío Millán

This paper describes a method proposed in order to recover electrical energy (lost by abnormality or fraud) by means of a data mining analysis based in outliers detection. It provides a general methodology to obtain a list of abnormal users using only the general customer databases as input. The hole input information needed is taken exclusively from the general customers’ database. The data mining method has been successfully applied to detect abnormalities and fraudulencies in customer consumption. We provide a real study and we include a number of abnormal pattern examples.

MASSIVE PARALLEL NETWORKS OF EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSORS AS NP-PROBLEM SOLVERS

Nuria Gómez Blas, Luis F. de Mingo and Eugenio Santos

This paper presents a new connectionist model that might be used to solve NP-problems. Most well known numeric models are Neural Networks that are able to approximate any function or classify any pattern set provided numeric information is injected into the net. Concerning symbolic information new research area has been developed, inspired by George Paun, called Membrane Systems. A step forward, in a similar Neural Network architecture, was done to obtain Networks of Evolutionary Processors (NEP). A NEP is a set of processors connected by a graph, each processor only deals with symbolic information using rules. In short, objects in processors can evolve and pass through processors until a stable configuration is reach. Despite their simplicity, we show how the latter networks might be used for solving an NP-complete problem, namely the 3-colorability problem, in linear time and linear resources (nodes, symbols, rules).

WHY HEIDEGGER? - CRITICAL INSIGHTS FOR IS DESIGN FROM PRAGMATISM AND FROM SOCIAL SEMIOTICS

Ângela Lacerda Nobre

Martin Heidegger’s ontology represents a landmark in terms of how human knowledge is theorised. Heidegger’s breakthrough achievement is to consider scientific knowledge as a particular case of the broader being-in-the-world instance. Science develops without needing to acknowledge this dependence though in times of crisis, when previous approaches are no longer effective, it is the link with daily experience that enables the rethinking of earlier assumptions. This valorisation of quotidian practices and the centrality of experience and of informal knowledge – the prereflexive work – in terms of being the antecedents of formal and explicit knowledge, has profound consequences regarding the creation of organisational information systems. The American School of Pragmatism, developed by Charles Sanders Peirce, had previously argued in similar lines in terms of the non-severing of the dual relations such as theory/practice or individual/social. In later times, Social Semiotics, also developed under the same implicit assumptions, where the individual and the social dimensions of human reality are mutually determined. These arguments have been established for long as being relevant for information systems design by several authors. However, there is an obvious lack of understanding of the kernel role of such theories in current mainstream research. Concrete approaches to organisational learning - such as Semiotic Learning - are an example of the huge potential that lies largely unexplored under the umbrella of socio-philosophy.

ARCHCOLLECT - A TOOL FOR WEB USAGE KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION FROM USER’S INTERACTIONS

Ahmed Ali Abdalla Esmin, Joubert de Castro Lima, Edgar Toshiro Yano and Tiago Garcia de Senna Carneiro

This paper presents a low coupled acquisition mechanism focused on users interactions, associated with semantic data. This tool is used for collecting, transforming, loading and displaying user interactions, called ArchCollect. It is composed by seven components gather information coming directly from the user, independent on the user monitored applications. The ArchCollect architecture has a relational model with capacity for keeping important information for two main areas: the commerce with products or services, quantities and prices, and applications with process, quantities, prices and employees. The relational model also added the possibility of obtaining the time spent to serve each user interaction on the application servers and on the ArchCollect architecture servers. In this architecture, data extraction and the data analysis are performed either by specific mechanisms, or by decision making tools, such as, OLAP, Data Mining and Statistics tools.

NEW APPROACHES TO CLUSTERING DATA - USING THE PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

Ahmed Ali Abdalla Esmin and Dilson Lucas Pereira

This paper proposes two new approaches to using the Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSO) to cluster data. It is shown how PSO can be used to find the centroids of a user specified number of clusters. These proposed approaches using different finenesses functions and considered the situation where the data is uniformly distributed. The PSO algorithm with these finenesses functions is evaluated on well known benchmarks data sets. Results show that significant improvements were achieved by using the proposed modifications and the PSO clustering techniques have much potential.

INFORMATION SYSTEM PROCESS INNOVATION EVOLUTION PATHS

Erja Mustonen-Ollila and Jukka Heikkonen

This study identifies Information System process innovations’ (ISPIs) evolution paths in three organisations using a sample of 213 ISPI development decisions over a period that spanned four decades: early computing (1954-1965); main frame era (1965-1983); office computing era (1983-1991), and distributed applications era (1991-1997). These follow roughly Friedman’s and Cornford’s categorisation of IS development eras. Four categories of ISPI’s are distinguished: base line technologies, development tools, description methods, and managerial process innovations. Inside the ISPI categories ISPI evolution paths are based on the predecessor and successor relationships of the ISPIs over time. We analyse for each era the changes and the dependencies between the evolution paths over time. The discovered dependencies were important in understanding that the changes on ISPIs are developed through many stages of evolution over time. It was discovered that the dependencies between the evolution paths varied significantly according to the three organisations, the four ISPI categories, and the four IS development eras.

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR IT GOVERNANCE IN THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT

Fabio Perez Marzullo, Carlos H. A. Moreira, Jano Moreira de Souza and José Roberto Blaschek

This paper presents an IT Governance Cycle and a Competency Model, that are being developed to identify the intellectual capital and the strategic actions needed to implement an efficient IT Governance program in the Brazilian Government. This work in progress is driven by the premise that organization’s human capital must adhere to a set of core competencies in order to correctly prioritize and achieve business results that, regarding government issues, relates to public resources administration. It is now widely accepted that IT Governance may help the organization to succeed on its business domain; consequently, through effective investment policies and correct IT decisions the organization can align business needs with IT resources, achieving highly integrated business services. These new directions intend to propose an IT Governance model capable to improve IT strategies of government organizations, and to propose core competencies and an IT Governance Cycle, which altogether defined a Governance Framework.

A PROCESS FOR DETERMINING USER REQUIREMENTS IN ECRM DEVELOPMENT - A STRATEGIC ASPECT AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION

Ing-Long Wu and Ching-Yi Hung

Customer relationship management (CRM) has incerasingly become important while business focus has shifted from product-centric to customer-centric,. However, many organizations fail to achieve the objectives. One of the important determinants is the deployment of electronic CRM (eCRM) in organizations. In essence, CRM is complex in comprising product, channel, consumer, delivery, and service aspects. This requires different approaches in eCRM development. Determining user requirement is the most important phase and the key to the final success in system use. This research proposes a strategy-based process for system requirement analysis. Previous research has not discussed the important role of the CRM strategies in building eCRM. Moreover, the implemenation process was only reported partially in literature. Basically, the framework contains three steps: (1) define CRM strategies, (2) identify consumer and marketing characteristics, and (3) determine system requirements. This framework is further examined by empirical data. The results indicate that CRM strategies have positive impact on system requirement analysis while developing eCRM.

MODELING UNIT TESTING PROCESSES - A SYSTEM DYNAMICS APPROACH

Kumar Saurabh

Software development is a complex activity that often exhibits counter-intuitive behavior, in that outcomes often vary quite radically from the intended results. The production of a high quality software product requires application of both defect prevention and defect detection techniques. A common defect detection strategy is to subject the product to several phases of testing such as unit, integration, and system. These testing phases consume significant project resources and cycle time. As software companies continue to search for ways for reducing cycle time and development costs while increasing quality, software testing processes emerge as a prime target for investigation. This paper presents a system dynamics model of software development, better understanding testing processes. Motivation for modeling testing processes is presented along with a an executable model of the unit test phase. Some sample model runs are described to illustrate the usefulness of the model.

PRODUCTION CONFIGURATION OF PRODUCT FAMILIES - AN APPROACH BASED ON PETRI NETS

Lianfeng Zhang, Brian Rodrigues, Jannes Slomp and Gerard J. C. Gaalman

Configuring production processes based on process platforms has been recognized as an effective means for companies to produce product variety while maintaining stable production. Production configuration involves diverse process elements, e.g., machines, operations, a high variety of component parts and assemblies along with the constraints and restrictions among them. It essentially entails the selection of proper process elements, the subsequent arrangement of selected elements into processes and the final evaluation of the configured multiple alternatives to determine an appropriate one. In an attempt to assist companies to better understand and implement production configuration, we study the underlying logic for configuring processes based on a process platform by means of dynamic modelling and visualization. Accordingly, we develop a formalism of nested colored timed Petri nets (PNs) to model production configuration. To accommodate the modelling difficulties resulting from the fundamental issues in production configuration, three types of nets, namely process nets, assembly nets and manufacturing nets, together with a nested net system are defined by adopting the basic principles of colored PNs, nested PNs and timed PNs. The paper demonstrates how the proposed formalism is applied to specify production processes at different levels of abstraction to achieve production configuration.

AN EXTREME PROGRAMMING RELEASE PLAN THAT MAXIMIZES BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Marcelo C. Fernandes, Antonio Juarez Alencar and Eber Assis Schmitz

This paper proposes a multi-criteria method to evaluate the value of XP release plans to business. The method, which is based upon information economics and stochastic modeling, helps XP practitioners to select the release plan that maximizes business performance, with considerable consequences for the use of information technology as a competitive advantage tool.

DEFINING THE IMPLEMENTATION ORDER OF SOFTWARE PROJECTS IN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENTS

Eber Assis Schmitz, Antonio Juarez Alencar, Marcelo C. Fernandes and Carlos Mendes de Azevedo

In the competitive world in which we live, where every business opportunity not taken is an opportunity handed to competitors, software developers have distanced themselves, in both language and values, from those who define the requirements that software has to satisfy and come up with the money that funds its development process. Such a distance helps to reduce or, in some cases, completely eliminate the competitive advantage that software development may provide to an organization; transforming this value creation activity into a business cost that is better kept low and under tight control. This article proposes a method for obtaining the optimal implementation order of software units in an information technology development project. This method, which uses a combination of heuristic procedures and Monte Carlo simulation, takes into consideration the fact that software development is generally carried out under cost and investment constraints in an uncertain environment, whose proper analysis indicate how to obtain the best possible return on investment. The article shows that decisions made under uncertainty may be substantially different from those made in a risk-free environment.

MODELLING & SIMULATION OF A VIRTUAL CAMPUS - A CASE STUDY REGARDING THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA

Angel A. Juan, Pau Fonseca, Joan M. Marquès, Xavi Vilajosana and Javier Faulin

In this paper we present a case study regarding the modelling and simulation of a real computer system called Castelldefels. This system gives support to the Virtual Campus of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), an online university that offers e-learning services to thousands of users. After analyzing several alternatives, the OPNET software was selected as the convenient tool for developing this network-simulation research. The main target of the project was to provide the computer system’s managers with a realistic simulation model of their system. This model would allow the managers: (i) to analyze the behaviour of the cur-rent system in order to discover possible performance problems such as bottlenecks, weak points in the structure, among others, and (ii) to perform what-if analysis regarding future changes in the system, including the addition of new Internet-based services, variations in the number and types of users, changes in hardware or software components.

WORKFLOW TREES FOR REPRESENTATION AND MINING OF IMPLICITLY CONCURRENT BUSINESS PROCESSES

Daniel Nikovski

We propose a novel representation of business processes called workflow trees that facilitates the mining of process models where the parallel execution of two or more sub-processes has not been recorded explicitly in workflow logs. Based on the provable property of workflow trees that a pair of tasks are siblings in the tree if and only if they have identical respective workflow-log relations with each and every remaining third task in the process, we describe an efficient business process mining algorithm of complexity only cubic in the number of process tasks, and analyze the class of processes that can be identified and reconstructed by it.

ON CONCEPTUALIZATION AS A SYSTEMATIC PROCESS

A. J. J. van Breemen and Janos J. Sarbo

We are concerned with the early phases of ER-modeling consisting in the primary conceptualization of the underlying application domain. To this end we introduce a process model for the generation of a domain description. In virtue of its close relation with cognitive activity, this model enables the modeler as well as the user to comprehend the concepts of the resulting domain in a natural way. Due to its uniform representation potential, our approach enables knowledge obtained from different stake holders during a conceptualization process to be combined in an efficient way. Our objective is not the presentation of a modeling method that rivals ER or ORM modeling techniques, that are suited for modeling the domain as it actually is (descriptive). Our objective is the development of a method that can model the domain as it ought to become (prescriptive) and still offers means to measure the semantic quality of the resulting model.

GENERALIZATION AND BLENDING IN THE GENERATION OF ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP SCHEMAS BY ANALOGY

Marco A. Casanova, Simone D. J. Barbosa, Karin K. Breitman and Antonio L. Furtado

To support the generation of database schemas of information systems, a five-step design process is proposed that explores the notions of generic and blended spaces and favours the reuse of predefined schemas. The use of generic and blended spaces is essential to achieve the passage from the source space into the target space in such a way that differences and conflicts can be detected and, whenever possible, conciliated. The convenience of working with multiple source schemas to cover distinct aspects of a target schema, as well the possibility of creating schemas at the generic and blended spaces, are also considered.

VARIABILITY MANAGEMENT IN SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINES FOR DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTION

María Eugenia Cabello and Isidro Ramos

This paper presents software variability management in complex cases of Software Product Lines where two kinds of variabilities emerge: domain variability and application variability. We illustrate the problem by means of a case study in the Decision Support Systems domain. We have dealth with the first one using variability points that are captured using decision-tree techniques in order to select base architectures and the second one by decorating the base architectures with the features of the application domain. In order to present this variability management, we focus on the diagnostic domain, a special case of Decision Support Systems. A generic solution for the automatic construction of systems of this kind is given using our approach: Base-Line Oriented Modeling (BOM).

COMBINING DIFFERENT CHANGE PREDICTION TECHNIQUES

Daniel Cabrero, Javier Garzás and Mario Piattini

This work contributes to software change prediction research and practice in three ways. Firstly, it reviews and classifies the different types of techniques used to predict change. Secondly, it provides a framework for testing those techniques in different contexts and for doing so automatically. This framework is used to find the best combination of techniques for a specific project (or group of projects) scenario. In third place, it provides a new prediction technique based on what the expectation of change is, from the user’s point of view. This new proposal is based on a gap found in the relevant research, during the course of a review of the relevant literature.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DOCUMENT CORRELATION TECHNIQUES FOR TRACEABILITY ANALYSIS

Anju G. Parvathy, Bintu G. Vasudevan and Rajesh Balakrishnan

One of the important aspects of software engineering is to ensure traceability across the development lifecycle. Traceability matrix is widely used to check for completeness and to aid impact analysis. We propose that this computation of traceability can be automated by looking at the correlation between the documents. This paper describes and compares four novel approaches for traceability computation based on text similarity, term structure and inter-document correlation algorithms. These algorithms base themselves on different information retrieval techniques for establishing document correlation. Observations from our experiments are also presented. The consequent comparative study helps us conclude on the most acceptable technique of document correlation (amongst all techniques proposed) for traceability analysis. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches are discussed in detail. Various scenarios where these approaches would be applicable and the future course of action are also discussed.

DELIVERING ACTIONABLE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE THROUGH SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

Zeljko Panian

The paper discusses the main characteristics of Service-oriented Architecture and examines the feasible ways of using business intelligence solutions as Web services in an SOA environment. With the evolution of Web services, organizations are becoming more sophisticated in their goals for and requirements of this technology as it offers faster and more flexible deployment, customization and easy integration of BI solutions. Those organizations that choose a Web services strategy will be best positioned to deliver BI content across and beyond the enterprise, making BI accessible to everyone, wherever they work, at a lower cost and in more innovative ways..

SELF-ADAPTIVE CUSTOMIZING WITH DATA MINING METHODS - A CONCEPT FOR THE AUTOMATIC CUSTOMIZING OF AN ERP SYSTEM WITH DATA MINING METHODS

Rene Schult and Gamal Kassem

The implementation of an ERP system is a long and cost intensive process. Functions of the ERP system, which are delivered in an enterprise neutral but sector specific fashion need to be adjusted to the specific business requirements of an enterprise. Exact knowledge of the ERP system is required because each ERP system has its own technical concepts and terminologies. Therefore many enterprises employ ERP system experts in order to customise the ERP system to be introduced as well as to further enhance the customisation after its introduction. A concept for the implementation of a Self-Adaptive ERP System should allow for the automatic customisation of an ERP system on the basis of the of enterprise process models provided and analysis of the ERP system usage.

DIAPASON: A FORMAL APPROACH FOR SUPPORTING AGILE AND EVOLVABLE INFORMATION SYSTEM SERVICE-BASED ARCHITECTURES

Hervé Verjus and Frédéric Pourraz

This paper presents a novel approach called Diapason, for expressing, verifying and deploying evolvable information system service-based architectures. Diapason promotes a pi-calculus-based layered language and a corresponding virtual machine for expressing and executing dynamic and evolvable services orchestration that support agile business processes. Information system service-based architecture may dynamically evolve, whatever the changes may occur during the services orchestration lifecycle.

A PROCESS-DRIVEN METHODOLOGY FOR CONTINUOUS INFORMATION SYSTEMS MODELING

Alfredo Cuzzocrea, Andrea Gualtieri and Domenico Saccà

In this paper we present a process-driven methodology for continuous information systems modeling. Our approach supports the whole information system life-cycle, from planning to implementation, and from usage to re-engineering. The methodology includes two different phases. First, we produce a scenario analysis adopting a Process-to-Function approach to capture interactions among components of the organization, information ad processes. Then, we produce a requirement analysis adopting a Function-for-Process and package-oriented approach. Finally, we deduce an ex-post scenario analysis by applying process mining techniques on repositories of process execution traces. The whole methodology is supported by UML diagrams organized in a Business Model, a Conceptual Model, and an Implementation Model.

IS THERE A ROLE FOR PHILOSOPHY IN GROUP WORK SUPPORT?

Roger Tagg

There appears to be evidence that much potential IT support for group work is yet to be widely adopted or to achieve significant benefits. It has been suggested that, in order to achieve better results when applying IT to group work, designers should take more notice of modern philosophies that avoid the so-called "Cartesian Dualism" of mind separated from matter. It is clear that group work support is more than a matter of automating formal procedures. This paper reviews the question from the author’s lifetime of experience as a consultant, academic and group worker; proposes some models to address some of the missing perspectives in current approaches; and suggests how future efforts could be re-orientated to achieve better outcomes.

ON-THE-FLY AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF SECURITY PROTOCOLS

Shinsaku Kiyomoto, Haruki Ota and Toshiaki Tanaka

In this paper, we presented an automatic generation tool for authentication and key exchange protocols. Our tool generates a security protocol definition file from input data of requirements for the protocol. The tool constructs a new protocol that combines a pieces of security protocols as building blocks. The transaction time of the tool is less than one second and it is able to realize more rapid generation of security protocols in comparison to existing generation tools.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE OSTRA FRAMEWORK FOR THE TRANSITION TO SOA

Fabiano K. T. Tiba, Shuying Wang and Miriam A. M. Capretz

Service-Oriented Architecture is an emerging paradigm to build applications as a collection of services that can be coordinated to provide flexible applications. At its full potential, the development of services is considered from the perspective of the enterprise to deliver services that can be reused across applications and provide flexible solutions. An enterprise-wide SOA has the potential to enable organizations to adapt faster in order to meet the changing needs of both the market and its customers as well as to increase the quality of their solutions. However, the achievement of an enterprise-wide SOA is challenging, as it remains unclear how organizations should evolve towards the SOA paradigm. This paper discusses issues related to transition to SOA and provides an overview of OSTRA - a framework which provides a realistic approach for the transition to SOA, by considering short-term and long-term goals and balancing planning and management with practical experimentation.

SUPPORT DISCIPLINES FOR SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT IN SMES - A CONCEPTUAL MAP

Luis E. Mendoza, María Pérez, Edumilis Méndez and Wilfredo Báez

Both software configuration management (SCM) and project management (PM) involve applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques which support the development of software systems (SS). Developing an effective project management plan, which minimizes risks and restrictions inherent to the project, becomes more difficult as time goes on. Achieving an effective balance between the scope, timeframe, and costs associated with the project is also a complex task. This task is equally challenge for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SCM is a powerful tool for the administration and control of the life cycle of the SS, and it is linked to the process of quality assurance. This article presents the first results of an ongoing research whose purpose is to develop a framework which incorporates the methodological aspects of PM and SCM for SMEs. The first step for the design of this framework was to build a conceptual model that would be used as a systemic vision of the semantic basis to unify and support the relationships between these concepts.

KNOWLEDGE ELICITATION TECHNIQUES FOR DERIVING COMPETENCY QUESTIONS FOR ONTOLOGIES

Lila Rao, Han Reichgelt and Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson

This research explores the applicability of existing knowledge elicitation techniques for the development of competency questions for ontologies. This is an important area of research as competency questions are used to evaluate an ontology. The use of appropriate knowledge elicitation techniques increases the likelihood that these competency questions will be reflective of what is needed of the ontology. It thus helps ensure the quality of the ontology (i.e. the competency questions will adequately reflect the end users requirements).

MODELING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX SOCIO-TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENTS

I. T. Hawryszkiewycz

The paper focuses on modeling large open information systems. These are systems composed of many activities include relationships between activity participants to create new knowledge and services. The systems are further complicated by the changing nature of both the activities and relationships. The paper proposes increased emphasis on modelling work and social structures and using the models to generate role based interfaces. It illustrates the application to the design of complex outsourcing systems

INCREMENTAL ONTOLOGY INTEGRATION

Thomas Heer, Daniel Retkowitz and Bodo Kraft

In many areas of computer science ontologies become more and more important. The use of ontologies for domain modeling often brings up the issue of ontology integration. The task of merging several ontologies, covering specific subdomains, into one unified ontology has to be solved. Many approaches for ontology integration aim at automating the process of ontology alignment. However, a complete automation is not feasible, and user interaction is always required. Nevertheless, most ontology integration tools offer only very limited support for the interactive part of the integration process. In this paper, we present a novel approach for the interactive integration of ontologies. The result of the ontology integration is incrementally updated after each definition of a correspondence between ontology elements. The user is guided through the ontologies to be integrated. By restricting the possible user actions, the integrity of all defined correspondences is ensured by the tool we developed. We evaluated our tool by integrating different regulations concerning building design.

DESIGNING BUSINESS PROCESS MODELS FOR REQUIRED UNIFORMITY OF WORK

Kimmo Tarkkanen

Business process and workflow models play important role in developing information system integration and later training of its usage. New ways of working and information system usage practices are designed with as-is and to-be process models, which are implemented into system characteristics. However, after the IS implementation the work practices may become differentiated. Variety of work practices on same business process can have unexpected and harmful social and economic consequences in IS-mediated work environment. This paper employs grounded theory methodology and a case study to explore non-uniformity of work in a Finnish retail business organization. By differentiating two types of non-uniform work tasks, the paper shows how process models can be designed with less effort, yet maintaining the required amount of uniformity by the organization and support for employees’ uniform actions. In addition to process model designers, the findings help organizations struggling with IS use practices’ consistency to separate practices that may emerge most harmful and practices that are not worth to alter.

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR GROUP SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN LOCAL COUNCILS

Joycelyn Harris and Lily Sun

Government organisations have a unique culture due to their social obligations and public accountability. It is generally agreed that e-government implies the use of information communication technologies (ICT) for the provision of public services, the improvement of managerial effectiveness and the promotion of democratic values and mechanisms. Most discussions about e-government focus on the use of ICT to improve the relationship between government and citizen, but not the relationship between government and employees. Government collaboration takes places within a specific context and incentives to collaborate are embedded within institutional arrangements and management structure. This paper proposes a conceptual model to assist local council employees to perform group activities in partnership with external stakeholders in order to achieve council goals.

ENGINEERING MOBILE AGENTS

Arnon Sturm, Dov Dori and Onn Shehory

As the mobile agent paradigm becomes of interest to many researchers and industries, it is essential to introduce an engineering approach for designing such systems. Recent studies on agent-oriented modeling languages have recognized the need for modeling mobility aspects such as why a mobile agent moves, where the agent moves to, when it moves and how it reaches its target. These studies extend existing languages to support the modeling of agent mobility. However, these fall short in addressing some modeling needs. They lack in their expressiveness: some of them ignore the notion of location (i.e., the "where") while others do not handle all types of mobility (the "how"). Additionally, they lack in their accessibility, as the handling of the mobility aspects is separated into multiple views and occasionally the mobility aspect is tightly coupled with the functional behavior specification. View multiplicity reduces the comprehensibility and the ease of specification, whereas the coupling with the functional behavior specification reduces the flexibility of deploying a multi-agent systems in different configurations (i.e., without mobility). In this paper, we address these problems by enhancing an expressive and accessible modeling language with capabilities for specifying mobile agents. We provide the details of the extension, then illustrate the use of the extended modeling language, and demonstrate the way in which it overcomes existing problems.

A REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING PROCESS MODEL FOR DISTRIBUTED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - LESSONS LEARNED

Leandro Teixeira Lopes and Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy

In the growing market of global software development (GSD), requirements engineering emerges as a critical process impacted by distribution. The need of a process to address the difficulties caused by team dispersion in requirements engineering is recognized. The objective of this paper is to present lessons learned from a case study conducted to evaluate a requirements engineering process model for distributed software development. Empirical results were obtained in a multinational organization that develops software with teams distributed in a global setting. The main contribution of this paper is providing an insight in the use of a requirements engineering process model for GSD, as well as, new information on current needs for changes or revision in traditional requirements engineering models.

A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM TAYLORED FOR ROMANIAN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Razvan Petrusel

This paper presents an overview of a prototype of a real-world decision support system (DSS) that was developed in order to improve financial decisions in Romanian small and medium enterprises (SME). The goal of the paper is to show weaknesses in strategic, tactic and operative financial decision making in Romanian SME and to show how improvement is possible by use of a cash-flow based DSS and several specialised expert systems. The paper focuses mainly on requirements elicitation and on system validation. The impact and benefits of using the Information Technology in decision-making processes within the enterprise are highlighted.

CHALLENGES IN SOFTWARE DESIGN IN LARGE CORPORATIONS - A CASE STUDY AT SIEMENS AG

Peter Killisperger, Markus Stumpnter, Georg Peters and Thomas Stückl

Successful software development is still a challenge and improvements in software processes and their application is an active research domain. Siemens has started research projects aiming to improve Siemens’ software process related activities. The adaptation of generic software process models to project specific context and the application of instantiated processes play a major role in these efforts. Several solutions have been put forward by research in recent years to better standardise and automate these procedures. However, no approach has become a de facto standard and instantiation and application of processes in practice are still often done manually and not standardised. On the basis of an analysis of Siemens’ current practice, a New Software Engineering Framework (NSEF) is suggested for improving the instantiation and the application of software processes at Siemens. In particular, the paper suggests the development of a concept and implementation of a gradual instantiation approach.

BETTER IT GOVERNANCE FOR ORGANIZATIONS - A MODEL FOR IMPROVING FLEXIBILITY AND CAPABILITIES OF STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS PLANNING (SISP) THROUGH EA AND BPR UNDER E-BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Jungho Yang

Within more turbulent, and increasingly globalized and digitalized environments, Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) has been recognized as one of the most significant factors for effective and efficient IT governance to improve organizations’ effectiveness and capabilities by changing the characteristics or overall governance of organizations. Although organizations have been introduced, various well-known methodologies for creating the SISP successfully to maximize their strategic opportunities and values, the current literatures indicate that there is no perfect and fully comprehensive methodology or model to make organizations satisfactory. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model that can complement issues of the existing model and support improved flexibility and capabilities, and at the same time minimize waste and systems inconsistency by incorporating EA, BPR and concurrent approach. On-going research will be a case study to validate the proposed model in the government of Korea and to seek for other potential issues and factors compared with other sectors.

SEMANTICS AND REFINEMENT OF BEHAVIOR STATE MACHINES

Kevin Lano and David Clark

In this paper we present an axiomatic semantics for UML 2 behavior state machines, and give transformation rules for establishing refinements of behavior state machines, together with proofs of the semantic validity of these rules, based on a unified semantics of UML 2.

A METADATA-DRIVEN APPROACH FOR ASPECT-ORIENTED REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS

Sérgio Agostinho, Ana Moreira, André Marques, João Araújo, Isabel Brito, Ricardo Ferreira, Ricardo Raminhos, Jasna Kovačević, Rita Ribeiro and Philippe Chevalley

This paper presents a metadata-driven approach based on aspect-oriented requirements analysis. This approach has been defined in cooperation with the European Space Agency in the context of the “Aspect Specification for the Space Domain” (ASSD) project. ASSD aims at assessing the applicability and usefulness of aspect-orientation for the space domain (ground segment software projects in particular), focusing on the early stages of the software development life cycle. This paper describes a rigorous representation of requirements analysis concepts, refines a method for handling early aspects, and proposes a client/server architecture based on a metadata repository.

CAMEL FRAMEWORK - A FRAMEWORK FOR REALIZING COMPLETE SEPARATION OF DEVELOPER’S AND DESIGNER’S WORK IN RICH INTERNET APPLICATION

Hiroaki Fukuda and Yoshikazu Yamamoto

This paper provides a framework called Camel which is able to separate developer’s and designer's work completely in developing Rich Internet Applications. In the last years, web becomes one of the most popular methods to transfer information such as search contents, advertise information and online shopping. We usually use an appropriate web application to achieve our requirement. In the development process of current web applications, designers design　interfaces of an application by using HTML, CSS, image and developers not only implement business logics but also modify the interface for dynamic generation of HTML tags based on the executed logic. Therefore, not only designers but also developers have to work every time when design of the interface is changed. This paper describes Camel framework and its implementation, which is based on Flex, and then demonstrate its usage and utility by implementing a real application.

SECURITY ANALYSIS OF THE HEALTH CARE TELEMATICS INFRASTRUCTURE IN GERMANY

Michael Huber, Ali Sunyaev and Helmut Krcmar

Based on ISO 27001 for Information Security Management Systems, this paper introduces a newly developed security analysis approach, suitable for technical security analyses in general. This approach is used for a security analysis of several components and processes of the Health Care Telematics in Germany. Besides the results of the analysis, basics for further analysis and verification activities is given.

MANAGING PROCESS VARIANTS IN THE PROCESS LIFE CYCLE

Alena Hallerbach, Thomas Bauer and Manfred Reichert

When designing process-aware information systems, often variants of the same process have to be specified. Each variant then constitutes an adjustment of a particular process to specific requirements building the process context. Current Business Process Management (BPM) tools do not adequately support the management of process variants. Usually, the variants have to be kept in separate process models. This leads to huge modeling and maintenance efforts. In particular, more fundamental process changes (e.g., changes of legal regulations) often require the adjustment of all process variants derived from the same process; i.e., the variants have to be adapted separately to meet the new requirements. This redundancy in modeling and adapting process variants is both time consuming and error-prone. This paper presents the Provop approach, which provides a more flexible solution for managing process variants in the process life cycle. In particular, process variants can be configured out of a basic process following an operational approach; i.e., a specific variant is derived from the basic process by applying a set of well-defined change operations to it. Provop provides full process life cycle support and allows for flexible process configuration resulting in a maintainable collection of process variants.

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF ENTERPRISE SERVICES - A MODEL FOR SUPPORTING SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE DESIGN

Matthew Dow, Pascal Ravesteijn and Johan Versendaal

Enterprise Services have been proposed as a more business-friendly form of web services which can help organizations bridge the gap between the IT capabilities and business benefits of Service Oriented Architecture. However up until now there are almost no methodologies for creating enterprise services, and no lists of definite criteria which constitute a “good” enterprise service. In this paper we present a model which can aid Service Oriented Architecture designers with this by giving them a set of researched criteria that can be used to measure the quality of enterprise service definitions. The model and criteria have been constructed by interviewing experts from one of the big five consultancy firms and by conducting a literature study of software development lifecycle methods and Service Oriented Architecture implementation strategies. The results have been evaluated using a quantitative survey and qualitative expert interviews, which have produced empirical support for the importance of the model criteria to enterprise service design. The importance of business ownership and business value metrics for enterprise services is stressed, leading to suggestions of future research that links this area more closely with Service Oriented Architecture governance, Service Oriented Architecture change management, and Business Process Management.

MAXIMIZING THE BUSINESS VALUE OF SOFTWARE PROJECTS - A BRANCH & BOUND APPROACH

Antonio Juarez Alencar, Eber Assis Schmitz, Ênio Pires de Abreu, Marcelo Carvalho Fernandes and Armando Leite Ferreira

This work presents a branch & bound method that allows software managers to determine the optimum order for the development of a network of dependent software parts that have value to customers. In many different circumstances the method allows for the development of complex and otherwise expensive software from a relatively small investment, favoring the use of software development as a means of obtaining competitive advantage.

SOFTWARE OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT - A CRITERIA DEFINITION FOR REFERENCES MODELS COMPARISON

Leonardo Pilatti and Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy

Software development has been a challenge. This complexity significantly increases when company team member are working in an offshore environment. The need for a set of processes increases after every project, including those to organize the development strategy. Reference models, maturity models and frameworks can be found in literature trying to solve this problem. However, few comparative analysis have been done in order to validate the appropriate solution. The objective of this paper is to elaborate and define a set of criteria to perform a comparative analysis of the main global software development reference models, focusing the offshore development, having as basis an extensive literature review and a case study in industry. The case study was conducted in two different sites in Brazil.

ITO-TRACKER - A TOOL FOR EVALUATING ITO PROJECTS BASED ON CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Edumilis Méndez, María Pérez, Luis E. Mendoza and Maryoly Ortega

Nowadays, the Latin American software industry, as it is mostly represented by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), should focus on improving its service capacity towards high quality, low costs, and timely delivery. Within this context, SMEs providing Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) services require information that allows to assess and monitor their contractual relationships and the agreements contained therein, considering a set of critical success factors that may vary depending on the type of project addressed. This article is aimed at describing the development of a tool named ITO-Tracker designed for the evaluation of ITO projects oriented to software, hardware, network and databases, based on Critical Success Factors (CSFs). ITO-Tracker offers guidance to the parties involved in the service through regular control and follow-up activities. The methodology used for developing this tool was the iterative and incremental process known as Rational Unified Process (RUP). For this purpose, we documented the development process and results from ITO-Tracker conceptualization, analysis, design and construction. Besides it is presented the evaluation of an ITO project in the software development area using the tool.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS TO EVALUATE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OUTSOURCING PROJECTS

Edumilis Méndez, María Pérez, Luis E. Mendoza and Maryoly Ortega

Nowadays, a large number of companies delegate their tasks to third parties in order to reduce costs, increase profitability, expand their horizon, and increase their competitive capacity. The level of success of such contracting and related agreements is influenced by a set of critical factors that may vary depending on the type of project addressed. This article proposes a model of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to evaluate Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) projects. The model is based on the ITO state-of-the-art, related technologies and different aspects that affect ITO project development. Altogether, 22 CSFs were formulated for data center, network, software development and hardware support technologies. Additionally, the model proposed was evaluated using the Features Analysis Case Study Method proposed by DESMET. The methodology applied for this research consisted of an adaptation of the Methodological Framework for Research of Information Systems, including the Goal Question Metric (GQM) approach. For model operationalization, 400 metrics were established, which allowed measuring CSFs and ensuring model effectiveness to evaluate the probability of success of an ITO project and provide guidance to the parties involved in such service.

A GROUP AUTHENTICATION MODEL FOR WIRELESS NETWORK SERVICES BASED ON GROUP KEY MANAGEMENT

Huy Hoang Ngo, Xianping Wu and Phu Dung Le

Group authentication provides authentication for members of communication group between services and users in insecure environments such as wireless networks. Most of the group authentication models do not consider the risk of compromised share secrets in the group under various security threats such as cryptanalysis. Although authentication key exchange in groups can benefit from group key management to minimise this risk, the group key management schemes are inefficient for authentication services. In this paper, a group authentication model for wireless networks services using a group key management is presented. The group key management is specially designed with forward secrecy and session keys for efficient and secure key exchange. Based on this secure session keys, a dynamic group authentication scheme provides a secure and efficient group authentication for wireless network users and services.

INTEGRATING CREATIVITY INTO EXTREME PROGRAMMING PROCESS

Broderick Crawford and Claudio León de la Barra

Human and social factors are very important in developing software and the development of new software requires the generation of novel ideas. In this paper, the Agile method called eXtreme Programming (XP) is analyzed and evaluated from the perspective of the creativity, in particular the creative performance and structure required at the teamwork level. The conclusion is that XP has characteristics that ensure the creative performance of the team members, but we believe that it can be fostered from a creativity perspective

DATA ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION USING ANZL ALGORITHM

Artan Luma and Nderim Zeqiri

What is the ANZP algorithm? It is a genuine result of our work which has been theoretically and practically proved. Through the ANZP algorithm we can change the definition of the Pythagorean Theorem which says: for p and q (one of them is odd and the other even), there is only one fundamental solution (x,y,z). Using the ANZP algorithm formulas this definition changes to: for numbers p and q (one of them is odd and the other even) there are at least two fundamental solutions (x_1,y_1,z_1) and (x_2,y_2,z_2), but there are also special cases when even three fundamental solutions are possible (x_1,y_1,z_1), (x_2,y_2,z_2) and (x_3,y_3,z_3). Based on these solutions we can easily create the encryption and decryption key.

INTRODUCING SERVICE-ORIENTATION INTO SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

Prima Gustiene and Remigijus Gustas

The conventional methods of information system analysis and design are not based on service-oriented paradigm that facilitates control of business process continuity and integrity. Service-oriented representations are quite comprehensible for business experts as well as system designers. It is reasonable to conceptualize a business process in terms of service-oriented events, before the supporting technical system is designed. UML design primitives abstract from the concrete implementation artefacts and therefore they are difficult to comprehend for business analysis experts. Separation of different modelling dimensions tends to draw attention away from the semantic consistency issues of various diagram types. The presented approach for service-oriented analysis is based just on three types of events: creation, reclassification and termination, which can also be used for the semantic integrity and consistency control. In this paper, the basic service-oriented constructs are defined. Semantics of these implementation neutral artefacts are analysed in terms of their associated counterparts that are used in object-oriented design.

RANKING REFACTORING PATTERNS USING THE ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS

Eduardo Piveta, Ana Moreira, Marcelo Pimenta, João Araújo, Pedro Guerreiro and R. Tom Price

This paper describes how to rank refactoring patterns to improve a set of quality attributes of a piece of software. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to express the relative importance of the quality attributes and the relative importance of refactoring patterns in regards to those selected quality attributes. This ranking of refactoring patterns can be used to focus the refactoring effort on the most beneficial patterns to the software being developed or maintained.

USING ASSOCIATION RULES TO LEARN CONCEPT RELATIONSHIPS IN ONTOLOGIES

Jon Atle Gulla, Terje Brasethvik and Gøran Sveia Kvarv

Ontology learning is the application of automatic tools to extract ontology concepts and relationships from domain text. Whereas ontology learning tools have been fairly successful in extracting concept candidates, it has proven difficult to detect relationships with the same level of accuracy. This paper discusses the use of association rules to extract relationships in the project management domain. We evaluate the results and compare them to another method based on tf.idf scores and cosine similarities. The findings confirm the usefulness of association rules, but also expose some interesting differences between association rules and cosine similarity methods in ontology relationship learning.

A FRAMEWORK FOR MONITORING AND RUNTIME RECOVERY OF WEB SERVICE-BASED APPLICATIONS

René Pegoraro, Riadh Ben Halima, Khalil Drira, Karim Guennoun and João Maurício Rosário

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural style, where a collection of services communicates each to other to execute business processes. With the popularity increase of developing SOA supported by Web services and since deployed processes may change, in terms of functional and non-functional Quality of Service (QoS), we need tools to monitor, diagnose, and repair Web services. This work presents a description of a framework to support self-healing architecture to reduce the effects of Web services QoS misbehaviors in SOA style processes. Major contributions of this paper are using proxy server to measure Web services QoS and to employ some strategies to recovery the effects from transgress Web services.

MANAGING REQUIREMENTS CHANGE AS PLM PROCESS

Mourad Messaadia, Jacqueline Konaté and Abd-El Kader Sahraoui

The work is on PLM issues within a systems engineering framework. The work considered is mainly focused on requirements change issue how to integrate it into the PLM information systems. The contribution is in two steps. Firstly, analyze requirements evolution engineering in terms of collaboration processes. Secondly, considering both the final product and requirements change impact on enabling product; the initial approach is a preliminary and illustrated by a case study.

REPRESENTATION AND REASONING MODELS FOR C3 ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Abdelkrim Amirat and Mourad Oussalah

Component-based development is a proven approach to manage the complexity of software and its need for customization. At an architectural level, one describes the principal system components and their pathways of interaction. So, Architecture is considered to be the driving aspect of the development process; it allows specifying which aspects and models in each level needed according to the software architecture design. Early Architecture description languages (ADLs), nearly exclusive, focus on structural abstraction hierarchy ignoring behavioural description hierarchy, conceptual hierarchy, and metamodeling hierarchy. In this paper we focus on those four hierarchies which represent views to appropriately “reason about” software architectures described using our C3 metamodel which is a minimal and complete architecture description language. In this paper we provide a set of mechanisms to deal with different levels of each hierarchy, also we introduce our proper structural definition for connector’s elements deployed in C3 Architectures.

CONTEXT-ORIENTED WEB METHODOLOGY WITH A QUALITY APPROACH

Anna Grimán, María Pérez, Maryoly Ortega and Luis E. Mendoza

Dependency on Web systems and applications has increased in recent years. Their use and quality have gained relevance and demands in this field have significantly increased in time. This has driven to the application of processes that include considerations related to business dynamism and quality expectations for the final product. This work is aimed at describing a methodology for Web applications development that ensures quality at all phases and is especially useful in small and medium-sized projects regardless of the platform or architecture used. We performed an analysis of the main existing methodologies that allowed us to extract the best practices known and combining them in the proposed solution. Comparison between agile and plan-driven methodologies established the most suitable process model for this type of development. As a result thereof, a context-oriented web methodology -COWM- was obtained, including best practices to ensure quality throughout the whole process. Finally, a COWM evaluation was performed on a case study in order to prove its applicability and efficiency for Web systems development.

MODELS FOR PARALLEL WORKFLOW PROCESSING ON MULTI-CORE ARCHITECTURES

Thomas Rauber and Gudula Rünger

The advent of multi-core processors offers ubiquitous parallelism and a new source of powerful computing resources for all kinds of software products. However, most software systems, especially in business computing, are sequential and cannot exploit the new architectures. Appropriate methodologies and models to includes parallel features into business software are required. In this article, we consider workflow systems with explicit workflow definitions and explore the possibilities to define parallel and concurrent executions in business processes for an implementation on multi-core systems. The article also also presents a parallel execution model for workflows and addresses the scheduling of workflow tasks for multi-core architectures.

AN APPROACH TO SUPPORT THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS

André Luiz Becker, Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy and Rafael Prikladnicki

The alignment between the strategy of a software process improvement program and the organizations’ business strategies has been mentioned as a critical factor of success. However, the main software process reference models do not explicitly guide the companies towards defining processes which meet their strategic goals. Based on this context, the purpose of this paper is to present a process for the strategic alignment of software process improvement programs. Preliminary results indicate benefits beyond the demands of a software process reference model itself, which include the planning and execution of a software process improvement program taking into account the organization’s strategic goals in a more systematic way.

SORCER: COMPUTING AND METACOMPUTING INTERGRID

Michael Soblewski

This paper investigates Grid computing from the point of view three basic computing platforms. The platforms considered consist of virtual compute resources, a programming environment allowing for the development of grid applications, and a grid operating system to execute user programs and to make solving complex user problems easier. Three platforms are discussed: compute Grid, metacompute Grid and intergrid. Service protocol-oriented architectures are contrasted with service object-oriented architectures, then the current SORCER metacompute Grid based on the service object-oriented and new metacomputing exertion-based paradigm is described and analyzed. Finally, we explain how SORCER, with its core services and federated file system, can be used as a traditional compute Grid and an intergrid—a hybrid of compute and metacompute Grids.

ROUND-TRIP ENGINEERING OF WEB APPLICATIONS FOCUSING ON DYNAMIC MODELS

Yuto Imazeki, Shingo Takada and Norihisa Doi

Enterprise information systems take many forms, one of which is Web applications. The demand for rapid development of such Web applications is becoming stronger, but there is still no good way. Round-trip engineering is a software development method that iterates between the modeling phase and coding phase, allowing for incremental and rapid development. However conventional tools only support static models such as class diagrams. We thus propose a tool for round-trip engineering of Web applications that supports dynamic models such as sequence diagrams and statecharts. We introduce a navigation model to model the navigation between Web pages. This model is used to link the various diagrams as well as to generate source code. We describe a case study to show the effectiveness of our tool.

SIMILARITY MATCHING OF BUSINESS PROCESS VARIANTS

Noor Mazlina Mahmod, Shazia Sadiq and Ruopeng Lu

Evidence from business work practice indicates that variance from prescribed business process models is not only inevitable and frequent, but is in fact a valuable source of organizational intellectual capital that needs to be captured and capitalized, since variance is typically representative of preferred and successful work practice. In this paper, we present a framework for harnessing the value of business process variants. An essential aspect of this framework is the ability to search and retrieve variants. This functionality requires variants to be matched against a given criteria. The focus of this paper is on the structural criteria which is rather challenging as query process structures may have different levels of similarity with variant process structures. The paper provides methods for undertaking the similarity matching and subsequently providing ranked results in a systematic way, as well as a reference architecture within which the methods may be deployed.

TOWARDS AN EXTENDED ALIGNMENT MODEL FOR A COMPLETE ALIGNMENT OF MANUFACTURING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Oscar Avila, Virginie Goepp and François Kiefer

Today companies need flexible and adaptable Information Systems (IS) to support their business strategies and organisational processes, as well as to facilitate their adaptation to changes of environment. In particular, in the manufacturing sector companies need flexible IS to make the integration of infrastructures easier, support production management and be able to respond to the evolution of support technologies. To deal with these specific requirements the alignment between the manufacturing IS with the organisation's strategy and its outside environment is necessary. However, most of research in the IS alignment field is related to the alignment of IS with organisation's strategy, neglecting the alignment with the external environment. Thus, in order to support complete alignment of manufacturing IS we propose in this paper an extension to the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) of Henderson and Venkatraman (1999). The extended SAM allow the definition of possible alignment perspectives that accentuate elements to be aligned and the alignment sequence. This set of perspectives and the extended SAM are a first step towards tackling the alignments with the strategy and with the environment.

ASSESSING REPUTATION AND TRUST IN SCIENTIFIC GRIDS

Andrea Bosin, Nicoletta Dessi and Balachandar Ramachandriya Amarnath

Up to now, reputation and trust are widely acknowledged to be important for business environments, but little attention has been placed in security aspects of Grids devoted to scientific applications. This paper addresses these aspects and proposes both a methodology and a model for assessing the reputation of computing resources belonging to a scientific Grid. Because the overall performance of the Grid depends on the quality of service given by each single resource, the resource reputation is a measure of trustworthiness, in the sense of reliability and is asserted on a set of properties, namely the operative context, that express the resource capability in providing available and reliable services. Unlike the business applications, we are not interested in assessing the reputation of a single resource but in finding a set of resource that have similar capabilities of successfully executing a specific job. Toward this end, the paper proposes a reputation model to cluster Grid resources in groups that exhibit similar behavioural patterns and share similar operative contexts. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the possible integration of such a model in a real Grid.

BRIDGING UNCERTAINTIES GAPS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Deniss Kumlander

The uncertainties is a well known factor affecting the final result of nearly any software project nowadays. Their negative impact is either a misfit between customers’ expectations and released software or extra efforts that software vendors have to invest into the development process. The paper presents some novel approaches to uncertainties handling including an ambassador driven communication, discussion groups and varying length internal cycles with software demonstration meetings.

ACTION-BASED ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS PROCESSES

Reuven Karni and Maya Lincoln

BPM identifies, comprehends and manages business processes both within and across organizational units. This requires understanding the totality and interrelationships of an enterprise process suite – a complex undertaking, given the number of processes involved. We suggest a method for supporting the management of a business process suite from an action-based viewpoint. We abstract the action verb from each process descriptor, and perform a verb frequency analysis. Through a Pareto approach those common to a large number of processes are identified. Semantic analysis of these significant actions provides four directions for BPM support: locating actions in the planning, execution or control domain; identifying common procedures to be implemented; ascertaining where operational coordination and consistency is required between organizational units.

FORMAL VERIFICATION OF THE SECURE SOCKETS LAYER PROTOCOL

Llanos Tobarra, Diego Cazorla, J. José Pardo and Fernando Cuartero

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) has become one of the most popular security protocols in the Internet. In this paper we present a formal verification of this protocol using the Casper/FDR2 toolbox. In the analysis of SSL v3.0 Handshake we have used a methodology that considers incremental versions of the protocol. We have started with the most basic protocol, and then we have included other features such as server and client authentication, digital signatures, etc. We have also verified SSL v2.0 because of the so called version rollback attack. Each version has been modelled and verified, and the results have been interpreted. Using this methodology it is easy to understand why some messages are needed in order to ensure confidential communication between a client and a server.

AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF UML-BASED WEB APPLICATION PROTOTYPES

Shinpei Ogata and Saeko Matsuura

The key to success in business system development is to sufficiently elicit user requirements from the customers and to fully and correctly define the requirements analysis model that meets these requirements. Prototyping is recognized as an effective software development method that enables customers to confirm the validity of the requirements analysis model at an early stage of system development. However, the development process requires guaranteeing consistency between the system model and customer requirements that arise as a result of the confirmation. This paper proposes a method for the incremental validation of a Web application wherein a prototype system is automatically generated from a requirements analysis model based on UML (Unified Modeling Language). This model defines the interaction between a system and the user, in addition to defining the input/output data. Moreover, the automatic generation tool of the prototype system enables the developer to confirm the system image incrementally while developing the requirements analysis model in UML. We discuss the expressiveness of the generated prototype in comparison with the current group work support tool.

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR SMES - SMES AND COOPERATIVES IN VENEZUELA

Lornel Rivas, María Pérez, Luis E. Mendoza and Anna Grimán

Software engineering tools have regained interests in recent years due to different changes affecting software developing organizations. These organizations carry out activities that might be undertaken in a plan driven and agile manner with the support of such tools. A proper balance between both approaches and the effective tool adoption will help organizations to meet their objectives and evolve. Small and medium enterprises and Cooperatives (S&C) share common characteristics throughout Latin America. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lack of formality in their roles and relationships among interacting individuals, whereas Cooperatives are usually small companies with weaknesses as to management techniques and technological equipment. In fact, both have difficulties when finding the right personnel and tools that best suit their needs. Considering Venezuela as the subject of our study, we have herein proposed some criteria to assist S&C in the selection of tools that support their development processes while fostering the balance required between agility and discipline. Such criteria were formulated based on the characterization of five factors aimed at determining this balance. These contributions will help subsequently identifying methodological and technical aspects to provide guidance to these organizations in the improvement of their development processes.

ONTOLOGICAL ERRORS - INCONSISTENCY, INCOMPLETENESS AND REDUNDANCY

Muhammad Fahad, Muhammad Abdul Qadir and Muhammad Wajahat Noshairwan

Mapping and merging of multiple ontologies to produce consistent, coherent and correct merged global ontology is an essential process to enable heterogeneous multi-vendors semantic-based systems to communicate with each other. To generate such a global ontology automatically, the individual ontologies must be free of (all types of) errors. We have observed that the present error classification does not include all the errors. This paper extends the existing error classification and provides a discussion about the consequences of these errors. We highlight the problems that we faced while developing our DKP-OM, ontology merging system and explain how these errors became obstacles in efficient ontology merging process. It integrates the ontological errors and design anomalies for content evaluation of ontologies under one framework. This framework helps ontologists to build semantically correct ontology free from errors that enables effective and automatic ontology mapping and merging with lesser user intervention.

REALIZING WEB APPLICATION VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS VIA AVDL

Ha-Thanh Le and Peter Kok Keong Loh

Several vulnerability analysis techniques in web-based applications detect and report on different types of vulnerabilities. However, no single technique provides a generic technology-independent handling of web-based vulnerabilities. In this paper we present our experience with and experimental exemplification of using the Application Vulnerability Description Language (AVDL) to realize a unified data model for technology-independent vulnerability analysis of web applications. We also introduce an overview of a new web vulnerability analysis framework. This work is part of a project that is funded by the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies, Ministry of Defence Singapore.

PHYSICAL-VIRTUAL CONNECTION IN UBIQUITOUS BUSINESS PROCESSES

Pau Giner, Manoli Albert and Vicente Pelechano

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) when applied to organizations can improve their Business Processes. An example of improvement is the integration of real world objects in the Information System. This reduces inconsistencies in the information and improves information acquisition rates. Automatic identification is the key technology to achieve this paradigm shift. The present work inspects the relevance of the identification concept for Business Processes supported by Ubicomp technologies and presents a conceptual framework to define the elements involved in the identification process. Taking into account that Business Processes tend to be very dynamic, it is important to have technological-independent definitions in order to enable the evolution of systems. The presented framework is independent of the underlying technology, in order not to be locked with a particular solution.

IMPROVING ANALYSIS PATTERNS IN THE GEOGRAPHIC DOMAIN USING ONTOLOGICAL META-PROPERTIES

Evaldo Silva, Jugurta Oliveira and Gabriel Gonçalves

This article shows the improving of analysis patterns in the geographic domain through ontological meta-properties, where each pattern’s class has its concept analyzed ontologically. This improvement also permits to restructure the class diagram of analysis patterns, increasing the reuse quality. Besides improving the analysis patterns, it is proposed one more topic in the template for analysis patterns documentation. This topic is based on the specification of the main classes defined during the process.

A METHOD FOR ENGINEERING A TRUE SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

G. Engels, A. Hess, B. Humm, O. Juwig, M. Lohmann, J.-P. Richter, M. Voß and J. Willkomm

Service oriented architecture (SOA) is currently the most discussed concept for engineering enterprise IT architectures. True SOA is more than web services and web services style of communication. In the first place, it is a paradigm for structuring the business of an enterprise according to services. This allows companies to flexibly adapt to changing market demands. Subsequently, it is a paradigm for structuring the enterprise IT architecture according to those business services. This paper presents a concrete method and rules for engineering an enterprise IT architecture towards a true SOA. It can be seen as an instantiation of roadmaps in enterprise architecture frameworks.

A CONCEPTUAL SCHEME FOR COMPOSITIONAL MODEL–CHECKING VERIFICATION OF CRITICAL COMMUNICATING SYSTEMS

Luis Eduardo Mendoza Morales, Manuel I. Capel Tuñón, María A. Pérez and Kawtar Benghazi Ahklaki

When we build complex business and communication systems, the question worth to be answered: How can we guarantee that the target system meets its specification? Ensuring the correctness of large systems becomes more complex when we consider that their behaviour is the result of the concurrent execution of many components. This article presents a compositional verification scheme, that integrates MEDISTAM-RT (Spanish acronym of Method for System Design based on Analytic Transformation of Real-Time Models), which is formally supported by state-of-the-art Model-Checking tools. To facilitate and guarantee the verification of large systems, the proposed scheme uses CCTL temporal logic as the property specification formal language, in which temporal properties required to any system execution are specified. In its turn, CSP+T formal language is used to formally describe a model of the system being verified, which is made up of a set of communicating processes detailing specific atomic-tasks of the system. In order to show a practical use of the proposed conceptual scheme, the critical part of a realistic industry project related to mobile phone communication is discussed.

TOWARDS REVERSE-ENGINEERING OF UML VIEWS FROM STRUCTURED FORMAL DEVELOPMENTS

Akram Idani and Bernard Coulette

Formal methods, such as B, were elaborated in order to ensure a high level of precision and coherence. Their major advantage is that they are based on mathematics, which allow, on the one hand, to neutralize risks of ambiguity and uncertainty, and on the other hand, to guarantee the conformance of a specification and its realization. However, these methods use specific notations and concepts which often generate a weak readability and a difficulty of integration in the development and the certification processes. In order to overcome this shortcoming several research works have proposed to bridge the gap between formal developments and alternate UML models more intuitive and readable. In this paper we are interested by the B method, which is a formal method used to model systems and check their correction by refinements. Existing works which tried to combine UML and B notations don’t deal with the composition aspects of formal models. This limitation upsets their use for large scale specifications, such as those of information systems, because such specifications are often developed by structured modules. This paper improves the state of the art by proposing an evolutive MDA-based framework for reverse-engineering of UML static diagrams from B specifications built by composing abstract machines.

MARVIN - MODELING ENVIRONMENTS WITH UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING

Caio Stein D’Agostini and Patricia Vilain

When different devices and applications start to work with one another, physical and behavioral aspects from the environment have to be taken into account when designing a system. It is impractical, if not impossible, to list all possible devices, applications and new characteristics and behaviors that might emerge as result from the autonomy of each part from the parts of the system, different data interpretation and self-organization capability. In order to cope with this difficulty, this paper combines the contributions from different works as a way to improve the modeling process of this type of computational environment.

EVALUATING CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UML ACTIVITY AND SEQUENCE MODELS

Yoshiyuki Shinkawa

UML activity diagrams and sequence diagrams describe the behavior of a target domain or a system from different viewpoints. When we use these diagrams for modeling the same matter in an application, these diagrams, or the models written by them, must be consistent from each other. However, the evaluation for the consistency is difficult, since these diagrams have considerably different syntax and semantics. This paper presents a process algebraic approach to evaluating the consistency between these models. CCS (Communicating Sequential Processes) is used as process algebra.

EXPRESSING BUSINESS RULES IN BPMN

Li Peng and Hang Li

The Business Process Modelling Notation is a graph-oriented language for executable business processes. Business rules describe fundamental constraints on a system’s transactions. Changes of business rules bring high impact on business processes. It is important for these rules to be represented explicitly, and to be automatically applicable. However, business rules are expressed in a markedly different way than business processes, it can be challenging to integrate them in a model. In this paper, I propose an approach for expressing business rules in BPMN. The key idea is that business rules are operationalized by BPMN subprocesses. This method can improve requirements traceability in process design, as well as minimize the efforts of system changes due to the changes of business rules.

MODELLING AND DISTRIBUTING INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE ACTIVITIES IN A WORKFLOW SYSTEM

Saïda Boukhedouma and Zaia Alimazighi

This paper deals with the modelling and the dispatching of individual and collective work in a workflow system. It particularly, focuses on workflow processes of organizations where actors are organized by teams. In such a system, participants must interact with each other, coordinate, exchange informations, cooperate and synchronize their work. To do that, it is essential to define firstly, the way of dispatching individual and collective parts of work to all participants in the system. We describe some static and dynamic aspects of the system and we propose a simple algorithm for managing human resources at the runtime of the process. The algorithm aims to balance the workload between human actors in the system, it is based on a workload cretaria computed according to the activities durations.

BUSINESS DRIVEN RISK ASSESSMENT - A METHODICAL APPROACH TO RISK ASSESSMENT AND BUSINESS INVESTMENT

David W. Enström and Siavosh Hossendoust

Dynamic business environments require concurrent, distributed, and flexible architectures that must provide an agreeable level of reliability and acceptable level of trust. Increasing solution architecture reliability thorough reviews and analysis of business requirements, architecture and design, resources and products is quickly replacing the prototype and test design model. A three level undisruptive business driven planning process has been formulated using a risk analysis model that provides a justifiable direction for implementing a low risk solution and selecting appropriate products. The methodology includes identification of “Risk Priority” through assessment of risks for: Business Effectiveness, Logical IT Solution Architecture (PIM) Aspects and Physical IT Solution Architecture (PSM) Aspects. It also introduces the Risk Dependency Analysis process as an aid in understanding relationships between architectural layers. This proposed methodology aids in understanding and prioritizing risks within the context of the organization; it has broadened the concept of a TRA into a risk controlled solution architecture domain.

STUDY ON IP TRACEBACK SYSTEM FOR DDOS

Cheol-Joo Chae, Bong-Han Kim and Jae-Kwang Lee

The rapid growth in technology has caused misuse of the Internet like cyber Crime. There are several vulnerabilities in current firewall and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) of the Network Computing resources. Automatic real time station chase techniques can track the internet invader and reduce the probability of hacking Due to the recent trends the station chase technique has become inevitable. In this paper, we design and implement IP traceback system. In this design no need to modify the router structure and we can deploy this technique in larger network. Our Implementation shows that IP traceback system is safe to deploy and protect data in Internet from hackers and others.

FROM PROCESS TO SOFTWARE SYSTEMS' SERVICE - USING A LAYERED MODEL TO CONNECT TECHNICAL AND PROCESS-RELATED VIEWS

Christian Prpitsch

Business processes are often defined by people not familiar with technical details of software systems. There are several languages how to define either a business process or technical details but no language supports both. We present a solution to build a bridge between both disjunct areas by using a level of abstraction between them. Along we create highly reusable artefacts. Both parties will use the same model but with a different perspective. In the paper we use a short scenario to show disadvantages of existing technologies, requirements and benefit. The scenario is derived from e-learning but can be transfered to any collaborative process where people create something.

A MODEL DRIVEN ARCHITECTURE TOOL BASED ON SEMANTIC ANALYSIS METHOD

Thiago Medeiros dos Santos, Rodrigo Bonacin, M. Cecilia C. Baranauskas and Marcos Antônio Rodrigues

Literature in Information Systems presents a set of approaches to analyzing and modeling the organizational context in order to improve the quality of the computational systems. The research community also looks for alternatives for aligning these approaches with Software Engineering techniques, which support the large scale and low cost software production and maintenance. In this work we propose an approach and a tool to support the construction of computational models taken from the organizational models. This approach is based on concepts, methods and techniques from MDA (Model Driven Architecture), and from Organizational Semiotics, more specifically the MEASUR (Methods for Eliciting, Analyzing and Specifying User’s Requirements). A MDA tool was constructed in order to realize the approach. The first version of this tool provides means to model Ontology Charts. By using semi-automated transformations, it is also possible to produce UML (Unified Modeling Language) class diagrams from the modeled Ontology Charts. The tool features, design solutions, and capabilities are explained.

AN ANALYSIS PATTERN FOR MOBILE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS TOWARD MUNICIPAL URBAN ADMINISTRATION

Bruno Rabello Monteiro, Jugurta Lisboa Filho, José Luís Braga and Waister Silva Martins

This paper introduces an analysis pattern for Mobile Geographic Information Systems (Mobile GIS) focused on urban administration applications. This pattern provides a class and associations diagram and can be used in the development of an urban Mobile GIS application. The paper also describes a process that guided us in obtaining this analysis pattern, presenting an example of its use in the conceptual modeling of an actual application.

DO SME NEED ONTOLOGIES? - RESULTS FROM A SURVEY AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

Annika Öhgren and Kurt Sandkuhl

During the last years, an increasing number of successful cases for using ontologies in industrial application scenarios have been reported, the majority of these cases stem from large enterprises. The intention of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of potentials and limits of ontology-based solutions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The focus is on identifying application areas for ontologies, which motivate the development of specialised ontology construction methods. The paper is based on results from a survey performed among 113 SME in Sweden, most of them from manufacturing industries. The results of the survey indicate a need from SME in three application areas: (1) management of product configuration and variability, (2) information searching and retrieval, and (3) management project documents.

SEMIOTICS, MODELS AND COMPUTING

Bertil Ekdahl

Recently, semiotics has begun to be related to computing. Since semiotics is about the interpretation of signs, to which language is a chief part, such an interest may seem quite reasonable. The semiotic approach is supposed to bring semantics to the computer. In this paper I discuss the realistic in this from the point of view of computers as linguistic systems, that is, as interpreters of descriptions (programs). I maintain the holistic view of language in which the parts are a whole and cannot be detached. This has the implication that computers cannot be semiotic systems since the necessary interpretation part cannot be made part of the program. From outside, a computer program can very well be considered semiotically since the equivalence between computers and formal system implies that there is a well defined model (interpretation) that has to be communicated.

STRUCTURAL MODEL OF REAL-TIME DATABASES

Nizar Idoudi, Claude Duvallet, Bruno Sadeg, Rafik Bouaziz and Faiez Gargouri

A real-time database is a database in which both the data and the operations upon the data may have timing constraints. The design of this kind of database requires the introduction of new concepts to modelize both data structures and the dynamic behavior of the database. In this paper, we propose an UML2.O profile, entitled UML-RTDB, allowing the design of structural model for a real-time database. One of the main advantages of UML-RTDB is its capacity to take into account real-time database properties through specialized concepts in rigourous, easy and expressive manner.

B2B AUTOMATIC TAXONOMY CONSTRUCTION

Ivan Bedini, Benjamin Nguyen and Georges Gardarin

The B2B domain has already been subject to several research experiences, but we believe that the real advantage of introducing semantic technologies within enterprise application integration has not yet been investigated fully. In this paper we provide a new use case for the next generation Semantic Web applications with regards to enterprise application integration. We also present the results of our experience in automatically generating a taxonomy from numerous B2B standards, constructed using Janus, a software tool we have developed in order to extract semantic information from XML Schema corpora. The main contribution of this paper is the presentation of the results of our tool.

APPLYING ACTIVITY PATTERNS FOR DEVELOPING AN INTELLIGENT PROCESS MODELING TOOL

Lucinéia Heloisa Thom, Manfred Reichert, Carolina Ming Chiao and Cirano Iochpe

Due to their high level of abstraction and their reusability, workflow patterns are increasingly attracting the interest of both BPM researchers and BPM tool vendors. Frequently, process models can be assembled out of a set of recurrent business functions (e.g., task execution request, approval, notification), each of them having generic semantics that can be described as activity pattern. To our best knowledge, so far, there has been no extensive work implementing such activity patterns in a process modeling tool. In this paper we present an approach for modeling business processes and workflows. It is based on a suite which, when being implemented in a process modeling tool, allows to design business processes based on well-defined (process) activity patterns. Our suite further provides support for analysing and verifying certain properties of the composed process models (e.g., absence of deadlocks and livelocks). Finally, our approach considers both business processes designed from scratch and processes extracted from legacy systems.

IT GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORKS AS METHODS

Matthias Goeken and Stefanie Alter

Actually there is little academic support for the challenges of IT management. As a reaction, various best practice frameworks were developed, which can be subsumed under the topic IT governance. These still has no sound basis or scientific foundation. To undertake a step in this direction, we present a method metamodel of COBIT, the popular IT governance framework. A major goal of this is to represent the underlying logical and semantically rich structure of this framework. This turns out to be fruitful for comparing and integrating different frameworks. Furthermore, frameworks can be checked for completeness and can be integrated on this basis. An interesting application is the representation of IT governance frameworks in a tool, which is demonstrated in the paper as well.

FROM INTERORGANIZATIONAL MODELLING TO ESSENTIAL USE CASES

Luciana C. Ballejos and Jorge M. Montagna

An information system analysis cannot be independent from the social and organizational context where it will be implemented. Requirements Engineering (RE) must initially focus on the modelling of the information system domain rather than on its functionalities. Thus, diverse techniques exist in order to represent the properties of organizational environments. However, they do not consider many attributes that are characteristic of contexts where two or more organizations interact, named interorganizational ones. This article proposes the extension of i* modelling framework (Yu, 1995) for interorganizational environments, as an important step towards analysis and design of interorganizational information systems (IOSs). The extensions (new elements and a new model) are then used to derive essential use case descriptions, thus demonstrating their usefulness at IOSs RE stage. Diverse transformation rules are explained and an example is instantiated to show them clearly.

RELATING SYSTEM DYNAMICS AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATA MODELS - A METAMODEL BASED LANGUAGE MAPPING

Lars Burmester and Matthias Goeken

System Dynamics (SD) is an approach with a long tradition used for modelling and simulation of complex system. Early, a conceptual modelling language was applied to bridge the “linguistic gap” between the natural language of the model users and the targeted simulation language. Despite the maturity of the modelling approach, up to today no formal linguistic definitions (linguistic metamodel) exists for the used languages, resulting in non complying language extensions and the lack of reasonable combination with other modelling languages, e.g. for use in Business Intelligence systems. This paper aims at the development of a formal linguistic definition of the language used in SD modelling in terms of a linguistic metamodel. Further, the metamodel based combination of modelling languages is demonstrated by relating the SD language to multidimensional data modelling. Finally, the therefore necessary extensions of the SD language will be performed via extension of the linguistic metamodels.

A SERVICE-ORIENTED FRAMEWORK FOR MAS MODELING

Wautelet Yves, Achbany Youssef and Kolp Manuel

This paper introduces an analysis framework made of different models proposing complementary views. First view - the strategic services diagram (SSD) - is the most aggregate knowledge level; it uses services for representing the system to be in a global manner. Second view offers a more detailed perspective of the agents involved into the services using traditional i* Strategic Dependency (SDD) and Strategic Rationale Diagrams (SRD). Finally, the third view - the Dynamic Services Hypergraph (DSH) - offers a dynamic approach of services realization paths at various Qualities of Service (QoS). Using those models at analysis level is interesting in a model driven software development approach. Indeed, the project stakeholders can share a common vision through a lookup at the services the system has to offer, at the depender and dependee agents for the services constituents and at the different realization paths and their QoS. The framework also offers the fundamental elements to develop a complete model driven software project management framework. It can be considered as a startup for a global broader software engineering method.

USING VARIANTS IN KAOS GOAL MODELLING

Joël Brunet, Farida Semmak, Régine Laleau and Christophe Gnaho

Abstract. In this paper we apply a certain kind of variability in KAOS goal and responsibility models, that allow to condition some links in them depending on the choice or non-choice of some variants of the system. These variants are grouped in facets and organized in a variant tree that has a semantics of what we called a metagraph, whose instances are all the goal/responsibility graphs generated when all variants are fixed. We use a case study from the land transportation domain: a simplified cycab (or cybercar) with a few variants. The overall case study is part of the ANR TACOS project, whose final aim is to define a component-based approach to specify systems with high safety requirements, based on this domain that is the subject of an intensive research.

IMPROVING THE UNDERSTANDABILITY OF I* MODELS

Fernanda Alencar, Carla Silva, Márcia Lucena, Jaelson Castro, Emanuel Santos and Ricardo Ramos

Requirements engineering (RE) has been considered a key activity in almost all software engineering process. i* is a goal-oriented approach widely adopted in the earlier phases of RE, as it offers a modeling language that describes the system and its environment in terms of actors and dependencies among them. However, often the models become cluttered even for small applications, compromising their understanding, evolution and scalability. In large and complex applications, this problem increases significantly. In this paper we investigate the use of structuring mechanisms to deal with the complexity which may arise when i* is used to model complex domains.

BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING THROUGH EQUIVALENCE OF ACTIVITY PROPERTIES

Carla Marques Pereira and Pedro Sousa

Since two decades ago, business processes have been gaining attention from IS’ managers, consultants and researchers and are becoming a key element in driving IT innovation. Despite such prominence, the concept of business process is not clear enough and even more unclear is the way to depict organization activities into a process blueprint. We claim that a much more precise and consolidate concept for “business process” is required. In this paper, we explain the constraints that influence business process modelling and we propose a solution based on a multi dimensional representation that decomposes processes into the Zachman Framework dimensions. Upon our solution we build up the concept of process equivalence.

ECM SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND SPECIFICATION - TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING

Jan vom Brocke, Alexander Simons and Anne Cleven

Information Systems (IS) analysis and specification is of great importance for successfully implementing IS. A just emerging field in IS research is Enterprise Content Management (ECM). In today’s work life, content becomes more and more a critical success factor and strategic asset. ECM provides the potentials to significantly influence both business process efficiency and effectiveness. However, there is still uncertainty on how to realize these potentials. Latest approaches in the field of ECM rarely provide methodical support for ECM systems analysis and specification. Moreover, the necessity of re-engineering business processes when implementing ECM is far too often neglected. With this paper, we introduce a framework for ECM adoption and business process re-engineering my making use of established methods in the field of Business Process Management (BPM), like business process specification and analysis.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT OF WORKFLOW DIAGRAMS BASED ON PASSBACK FLOW CONSISTENCY

Osamu Takaki, Takahiro Seino, Izumi Takeuti, Noriaki Izumi and Koichi Takahashi

Passback flows are a kind of flows which appear as replays of operations in a workflow diagram. In order to consider consistency of a workflow diagram and to verify the consistency, it needs to deal with passback flows as special ones. In this paper, we formalize a passback flow in a workflow diagram with only graph theoretical properties of the workflow diagram, and we give an algorithm detecting and removing all passback flows in a workflow diagram. Furthermore, with the algorithm, we extend consistency properties of the structure and life cycles of evidences over an acyclic workflow diagram into those over a general workflow diagram. Our methodology enables us to improve quality of a workflow diagram with loops.

ONTOLOGY BASED SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION OF THE REPORTS AND RESULTS IN A HOSPITAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

B. Prados-Suárez, E. González Revuelta, C. Peña Yáñez, G. Carmona Martínez and C. Molina Fernández

The main purpose of this paper is to contextualize the access to the huge amount of results and reports that a Hospital Information System (HIS) can reach to have. Our target is to integrate a semantic layer with the HIS, so that the user can employ this layer to access just the precise information needed, under his working context. Here we propose a new navigation system based on the semantic characteristics of the data acceded, their complementary characteristics, properties and relations, providing so the HIS with a new tool to solve an evident problem for the users.

CASE ON MODELING OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS BY MODIFIED IDEF0 TECHNIQUE

Vladimír Modrák

The paper is concerned with a process management from the point of view of business process mapping. It is focused on methodological aspects of business process modeling leading to development map of processes with consistent linkages between all hierarchical levels. Used approach is directed at support of managing processes that flow across departments and/or functions within the organization. Developed process mapping technique is based on process decomposition that is resulting in a set of business structure models, which are represented by diagrams.

A QVT-BASED APPROACH FOR MODEL COMPOSITION - APPLICATION TO THE VUML PROFILE

Adil Anwar, Sophie Ebersold, Mahmoud Nassar, Bernard Coulette and Abdelaziz Kriouile

With the increasing importance of models in software development, many activities such as transformation, verification and composition are becoming crucial in the field of Model Driven Engineering (MDE). Our main objective is to propose a model-driven approach to compose design models. This approach is applied to the VUML profile that allows us to analyse/design a system on the basis of functional points of view. In this paper we first describe a transformation-based composition process and then we specify transformations as a collection of QVT-Core rules. The proposal is illustrated by a simple example.

INTEGRATING TECHNICAL APPROACHES, ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES, AND HUMAN FACTORS IN SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT BY ORGANISING SECURITY RELATED QUESTIONS

Lili Yang, Malcolm King and Shuang Hua Yang

This paper aims to develop a multiple perspective framework for employee security risk assessment by simultaneously addressing three distinct perspectives: a technical, an organisational, and a human perspective. This integrated approach is totally different from using a technical perspective for the technical issues, an organisational perspective for the organisational issues, and a human perspective for the human issues, which are not adequate when carrying out security risk assessment. This article has developed a security related question library that integrates organisational culture and human factors with network security risk assessment in a ISO/IEC 27001 compliant environment. The case study in our research illustrates that any perspective may illuminate any issue, the different perspectives are mutually supportive, not mutually exclusive, and every information security issue, regardless of its nature, should be addressed by using these three perspectives.

FACILITATING AND BENEFITING FROM END-USER INVOLVEMENT DURING REQURIEMENTS ANALYSIS

Jose Luis de la Vara and Juan Sánchez

Although requirements analysis is a critical success factor of information system development for organizations, problems related to the requirements stage are frequent. System analysts usually lack understanding of the business and focus on the purpose of the system, and can easily miscommunicate with end-users. To prevent these problems, this paper describes an approach that tries to facilitate and benefit from end-user involvement during requirements analysis. The approach is based on BPMN and the goal/strategy Map approach. The business environment is modelled in the form of business process diagrams. The diagrams are validated by end-users, and the purpose of the system is then analyzed in order to agree on the effect that the system should have on the business processes. Finally, requirements are specified by means of the description of the business process tasks to be supported by the system.

PROGNOSTIC CAPACITY MANAGEMENT FROM AN IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Thomas Jirku and Peter Reichl

The biggest challenge faced by most IT organizations is to find the perfect balance between continuously running the IT infrastructure, at the same time enhancing the quality of their services, and responding with increasing agility to changing business needs, all of this under the additional constraint of decreasing budgets. The resulting pressure has become a main driver towards process are-engineering and ITIL. Among ITIL's best practice recommendations, capacity management is a key one. In this paper we discuss how to turn IT capacity management from pure outage prevention into a proactive mode which allows to better align IT budgets with business needs, to plan investments ahead, and to increase service quality by a more efficient resource usage. After a brief overview on ITIL basics including properties of a platform-independent central database, we discuss fundamental performance and workload concepts and present a case study demonstrating how to perform a holistic performance analysis of IT services.

INSCO REQUISITE - A WEB-BASED RM-TOOL TO SUPPORT HYBRID SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

F. J. Orellana, J. Cañadas, I. M. Del Águila and S. Túnez

This paper presents InSCo Requisite, a Web-based Requirements Management Tool (RM-tool) supporting InSCo, a methodology based on CommonKADS and RUP, for developing software systems in which traditional information systems coexists with knowledge-based components. A revision of similar requirement management tools is presented, as well as a review of the main requirements proposed for this kind of tools.

IMPROVEMENT OF A WEB ENGINEERING METHOD APPLYING SITUATIONAL METHOD ENGINEERING

Kevin Vlaanderen, Francisco Valverde and Oscar Pastor

In recent years, the Web Engineering community has introduced several model-driven methods in order to simplify Web Application development. However, these methods are too general and mainly focus on data intensive Web Applications. A solution to this problem is the Situational Method Engineering. This approach allows the creation or improvement of a web engineering method by reusing method fragments from previous methods. This way, a method suitable for a concrete project or domain can be designed. In this work, the OOWS method metamodel is defined with the purpose of applying Situational Method Engineering. Because of this metamodel, OOWS method fragments can be formalised and used to improve the efficiency of another Web Engineering Methods. Furthermore, the suitability of the OOWS method in the context of CMS-based web applications is evaluated through a user-registration case study. The results of this evaluation, is a list of current limitations of the OOWS Method in the CMS Web Systems domain and possible solutions.

BP-FAMA : BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK FOR AGILITY OF MODELLING AND ANALYSIS

Mohamed Boukhebouze, Youssef Amghar and Aïcha-Nabila Benharkat

In this paper we present the BP-FAMA framework (Business Process Framework for Agility of Modelling and Analysis), motivated by the need to have an abstraction level in which algorithmic preoccupation and the management rules are separated for a better evolution of processes. Nowadays the approaches proposed are based on a mixing of business rules and algorithmic structures making the process difficult to change. The other motivation is the improvement of the quality of the translation of process specification to high-level executable process. These objectives don’t go without the need for new agile modelling languages: BPAMN (Business Process Agile Modelling Notation) and BPADL (Business Process Elements Description Language) and a new agile execution language: BPAEL (Business Process Agile Execution Language).

LEGACY SYSTEMS ADAPTATION USING THE SERVICE ORIENTED APPROACH

Francisco Javier Nieto, Iñigo Cañadas and Leire Bastida

Legacy systems are the core IT assets of the great majority of organisations that support their critical business processes. Integrating those existing legacy systems with the rest of IT infrastructure is a complex and difficult task. Legacy systems are often undocumented, inflexible and tightly coupled and imply high cost of maintenance. Many organisations are starting to look at Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) as a potential way to expose their existing legacy investment as functional units to be re-used and exploited externally. This paper is focused on providing guidance to those organisations which want to use SOA on legacy adaptation and transformation. For doing so, this paper defines a vision and a set of best practices that any organisation should follow in order to expose their useful legacy functionalities as part of a SOA environment, allowing the development of hybrid systems understood as compositions of new services as well as of legacy systems and existing components wrapped as services.

NORM ANALYSIS SUPPORTING THE DESIGN OF CONTEXT-AWARE APPLICATIONS

Boris Shishkov, Marten van Sinderen, Kecheng Liu and Hui Du

In this paper we explore the usefulness of elaborating process models with norms, especially focusing on NAM (Norm Analysis Method) as an elaboration tool that can be combined with a process modeling tool, such as PN (Petri Net). The PN-NAM combination has been particularly considered in relation to a challenge that concerns the design of context-aware applications, namely the challenge of specifying and elaborating complex behaviors that may include alternative (context-driven) processes (we assume that a user context space can be defined and that each context state within this space corresponds to an alternative application service behavior). Hence, the main contribution of the current paper comprises an adaptability-driven methodological and modeling support to the design of context-aware applications; modeling guidelines are proposed, reflected through modeling tools (in particular PN and NAM), and partially illustrated by means of a small example

RICAD: TOWARDS AN ARCHITECTURE FOR RECOGNIZING AUTHOR'S TARGETS

Kanso Hassan, Elhore Ali, Soulé-Dupuy Chantal and Tazi Said

The growing volume of electronic documents on the Web, make their retrieval difficult. One of the reasons of this difficulty is the lack of rich representation of their structures. Intentional Structures promise to be a new paradigm to extend the existing documents structures and to enhance the different phases of documents process such as creation, editing, search and retrieval. The objective of this work is to propose a model of intentional structure and, an analyzer to recognize the author’s intentions from written documents in a specific domain. On the one hand, this system is based, on an ontology of intentions. On the other hand, it is based on a set of algorithms which facilitate the building of intentional structure. The main principle of these algorithms is to reproduce writers’ skills. The role of the system is to recognize the intentional structure i.e., to make a segmentation in a semi-automatic way of a document according to the authors intentions, and to extract the intentional verbs accompanied by their concepts of each segment through the algorithms of our analyzer. This analyzer is also able to update the ontology of intentions for the enrichment of the knowledge base containing all possible intentions of a domain. This article presents an experimentation on scientific publications in the field of computer science.

TOWARDS A VALUE-ORIENTED APPROACH TO BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING

Jan vom Brocke, Jan Mendling and Jan Recker

To date, typical process modelling approaches put a strong emphasis on behavioural aspects of business operations. However, they often neglect value-related information. Yet, such information is of key importance to strategic decision-making, for instance in the context of process re-engineering. In this paper we propose a value-oriented approach to business process modelling that facilitates managerial decision-making in the context of process re-design. The contribution of the paper is two-fold: First, we synthesise a number of key concepts from operations and financial management and show how they can be integrated with current business process modelling techniques. Second, we present a structured approach for evaluating the value of process design alternatives, so that managers can be guided towards process innovations that add real business value.

TESTING-BASED COMPONENT ASSESSMENT FOR SUBSTITUTABILITY

Andres Flores and Macario Polo Usaola

Updating systems assembled from components demand a careful treatment due to stability risks. Replacement components must be properly evaluated to identify the required similar behaviour. Our proposal complements the regular compatibility analysis with black-box testing criteria to reinforce reliability. The aim is to analyze functions of data transformation encapsulated on components, i.e. their behaviour. This complies with the observability testing metric. A Component Behaviour Test Suite is built concerning the integration level to be later applied on candidate upgrades. The approach is supported through a tool developed on our group, testooj, which is focused on Java components.

TOWARDS A DATA INTEGRATION APPROACH BASED ON BUSINESS PROCESS MODELS AND DOMAIN ONTOLOGIES

Fernanda Baião, Flavia Santoro, Hadeliane Iendrike, Claudia Cappelli, Mauro Lopes, Vanessa T. Nunes and Ana Paula Dumont

Building integrated technological solutions in an organization without non-desired information redundancy within several databases is still a challenge for the Information Systems research area. Domain Ontologies are considered solutions, since they allow people and software agents to share common agreement about information and semantics on a specific domain of knowledge. However, for this integration to be carried out effectively, the ontology should be kept up-to-date according to concept definitions, current business rules, and all information that is manipulated throughout the organization. This may be very difficult to achieve, especially when considering dynamic organizations. In this paper we present an approach for developing domain ontology from business process models. Business process models are concrete artifacts that may be described in both graphical and textual representational languages, and aggregates different views of knowledge in a domain of discourse. In one of those aggregated views, business process models may explicitly identify which information is manipulated by each activity in the sequence of activities composing the process, and the business rules. We argue that the association of information and activities minimizes bad interpretation of concepts risk, thus helping in building integrated data models.

A WEB 2.0 CASE TOOL SUPPORTING PACKAGED SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

Harris Wu and Georges Arnaout

Companies increasingly rely on implementing packaged software instead of developing custom solutions. Packaged software implementation (PSI) is the process to solve business problems by customizing and integrating an off-the-shelf software package. However, there has been a lack of CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools to support PSI. This paper presents a Web 2.0 based tool that supports case-based reasoning in PSI. The tool helps users explore past design cases, find a similar case, and reuse the design for that case in new problem situations. Our belief is that by utilizing the social power of a large group of users, better designs can be achieved at lower risks and lower costs.

AN OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE PROCESS QUALITY INSTRUMENTS ADOPTION AT BRAZIL

Rodrigo Santos de Espindola, Edimara Mezzomo Luciano and Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy

This paper presents results from a quantitative research that was conducted among 260 participants of a software quality event in Brazil. This research aims the understanding of the spread of quality instruments in this context and the occurrence of several IT problems in the analyzed organizations. The main contribution is the identification of the respondent’s perception about the relationship of the quality instruments adoption and their impact on several IT problems throughout statistical analysis of the collected data.

EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS WITH DATA HIERARCHIES

Bogdan Denny Czejdo

Research and practical efforts have intensified recently in the area of Information Systems (IS) supporting data and application evolution. The need to support IS evolution is caused by a variety of reasons including dynamicity of data sources, changing processing requirements, and using new technologies. In this paper we concentrate on evolution of IS data repositories caused by dynamicity of data sources. Our approach is to capture changes of various data hierarchies and use them as rules to implement evolution of IS data repository. Evolution of hierarchies can be categorized into: hierarchy creation, deletion, and modification for both schema hierarchy and instance hierarchy.

TOWARDS CREATION OF LOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR EVENT-DRIVEN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Darko Anicic and Nenead Stojanovic

Information Systems. Such systems are enabled to actively respond on events or state changes. Hence their behavior is programable by means of ECA rules. We propose an implementation of ECA rules in a completely logical framework, using Transaction Datalog as an underlying logic. In this way, we extend the current ECA framework by means of powerful and declarative semantics, which also have an appropriate procedural interpretation. We show how a logical calculus of Transaction Datalog can be exploited for realizing composite events, conditions, and actions; justifying the use of declarative semantics for solving some of the existing issues in reactive systems

A RECONFIGURABLE SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WITH SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

Ing-Yi Chen and Chao-Chi Huang

This paper proposes an Information Security Management System (ISMS), which is essentially a service-oriented mechanism. The system supports distributed process changes in run-time and as needed. In addition, this study uses a Service-Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE) development methodology for designing and building a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) ISMS. These features represent significant improvements upon existing systems because, they allow for a dramatic increase in the ease and efficiency with which system modification can occur. They also allow for the reuse of existing services and their recombination, either with other existing services, or with new software, in order to create new processes. The features afforded by this system hold tremendous potential for use within a range of industries and organizations, especially those that seek to provide on-line services to their customers or product users.

A SUPPLY CHAIN ONTOLOGY CONCEPTUALIZATION WITH FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Alicia C. Böhm, Horacio P. Leone and Gabriela P. Henning

Organizations all over the world are increasingly aligning in Supply Chains (SCs) in order to perform more efficiently and to achieve better results. This contribution presents a SC ontology that aims at conceptualizing and formalizing this domain knowledge. Its goal is to: (1) enable a better understanding among the various stakeholders, (2) set the basis for effective information sharing and the development of integrations tools. The ontology introduces concepts associated with the SC structure, functions, resources, as well as management issues. Since one key component of management is performance evaluation, which must be carried out along the SC, the proposed ontology focuses on performance evaluation aspects.

METHODOLOGICAL EXTENSIONS FOR SEMANTIC BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING

David de Francisco, Ivan Markovic, Javier Martínez, Henar Muñoz and Noelia Pérez

Semantic Business Process Management (SBPM) aims, among other advantages, to facilitate the reuse of knowledge related to the definition of business processes, as well as to provide an easier transition from models to executable processes by applying semantic technologies to BPM. In this article the authors focus on extending the scope of knowledge being reused from executable processes to semantic models' scope. This is done by providing some methodological extensions to existing BPM methodologies in order to take advantage of semantic technologies during business process modeling.

IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT OF USING H HETEROGENEOUS, DYNAMICALLY ALTERABLE CONFIGURATION ITEM LIFECYCLES

David Loewenstern and Larisa Shwartz

IT service management requires the management of heterogeneous artifacts such as configuration items with differing lifecycles and complex interrelationships. Lifecycle management in such environments is critical in providing feedback and control between processes and sustaining communication and synchronization between and within processes while maintaining the integrity of the configuration item database (CMDB). We propose a method for managing lifecycles of multiple types, with automatedmethods for inheritance of lifecycles, authorization of state changes, propagation of state changes through relationships, and dynamic lifecycle updates.

KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND COST MANAGEMENT FOR SUPPLY CHAINS

K. Donald Tham

The intent of this research is to make a contribution to SCEM and SCM systems. Severe competition for goods and services and the demanding requirements of customers have given rise to ever expanding global supply chains. Recognizing the growing significance of supply chains, we first present a means towards achieving knowledge representation (KR) of supply chains with enterprise modelling. Second, to promote effective, efficient and timely cost management throughout the supply chain, we present Temporal-ABC™ (registered trademark of Nulogy Corporation) together with a formalization of the costs of resources (i.e., resource cost units), and the ever increasing overhead costs incurred by enterprises. A means towards consistent, unambiguous, traceable and more accurate costing of each activity throughout the supply chain would go a long way towards establishing its success.

TOWARDS A SEMI-AUTOMATIC TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN MDA - ARCHITECTURE AND METHODOLOGY

Slimane Hammoudi, Wajih Alouini and Denivaldo Lopes

Recently, Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approaches have been proposed for supporting the development, maintenance and evolution of software systems. Model driven architecture (MDA) from OMG (Object Management Group), “Software Factories” from Microsoft and the Eclipse Modelling Framework (EMF) from IBM are among the most representative MDE approaches. Nowadays, it is well recognized that model transformations are at the heart of these approaches and represent as a consequence one of the most important operations in MDE. However, despite the multitude of model transformation languages proposals emerging from university and industry, these transformations are often created manually. In this paper we propose in the first part an extended architecture that aims to semi-automate the process of transformation in the context of MDA. This architecture introduces mapping and matching as first class entities in the transformation process, represented by models and metamodels. In the second part, our architecture is enforced by a methodology which details the different steps leading to a semi-automatic transformation process. Finally, a classification of these different steps according to two main criteria is presented: how the steps are achieved (manual/automatic), and who is responsible for their achievement (expert, designer or software

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MESSAGE EXCHANGES INTO WEB SERVICE-BASED APPLICATIONS

René Pegoraro, João Maurício Rosário and Khalil Drira

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicates each to other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of Web service-based applications and since messages exchanged inside of this applications can be very complexes, we need tools to simplify the understanding of interrelationship among Web services. This work present a description of graphical representation of Web service-based applications and the mechanisms inserted between Web services requester and providers to catch information to represent a process. The major contribution of this paper is discussing and using HTTP and SOAP information to show a graphical representation similar a UML sequence diagram of SOA Web service-based applications.

MEASURING THE E-PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES THROUGH ONLINE SURVEYS

Cristiano Maciel, Licinio Roque and Ana Cristina Garcia

The deliberative decision-making process of the group can be a result of counseling and voting mediated by technology. The involvement of citizens in this process is crucial and measuring participation in this process allows for assessment of the effectiveness of participation. Measuring the maturity of this decision, i.e. assessment of individual participation and its consequent reflection on the group’s decision can be accomplished through the maturity level method discussed in this paper. To accomplish an examination of the relative potential and difficulties in achieving and measuring e-participation we found it necessary to have a reasonable level of information structuring. For this purpose, online surveys were built and tested in stages, structured according to the Government-Citizen Interactive Model in a way as to support the Degree of Maturity Method (DMM). In the general scope of this research two distinct proposals are verified for the realization of a structured deliberative process, with consulting and voting, wishing to measure the maturity of the decisions taken through the application of online surveys by stages, and the use of a web application. The use of surveys is the focus of this paper, tested in an case study that allows verify the DMM.

A FAHP-BASED TECHNOLOGY SELECTION AND SPECIFICATION METHODOLOGY

Kin Chung Liu, Dennis F. Kehoe and Dong Li

Selection of technology in IT projects is recognized as a multi-criteria decision-making (MDCM) problem because it is important to incorporate multiple opinions from people and consider the interdependence among criteria (Lee and Kim, 2000). Various techniques were proposed to address the technology selection problems and some of them, such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (e.g. Bard, 1986), were proved successful in literatures. However, technology selection problem in a system development project can be viewed as a system design activity and there is lack of literatures propose a system design framework or methodology to integrate the technology selection with other system design activity. From a system design perspective, the research argues that AHP can be applied to generate technology specification and other useful information for system design purpose, in additions of technology selection. A high-level system design framework and the FAHP-based technology specification methodology are presented in this paper.

TOWARD A HYBRID ALGORITHM FOR WORKFLOW GRAPH STRUCTURAL VERIFICATION

Karim Baïna and Fodé Touré

Enterprise business procedures can be formalized by process models which must be correct in the sense that they do not affect negatively the functional objectives. The appropriate definition, analysis, checking and improvement of these models are indispensable before the deployment of the process model using a workflow management system. In this paper we present a new hybrid algorithm of workflow graph structural validation combining graph reduction and traversal mechanisms. Our algorithm will be compared to existing workflow structural checking approaches.

INFORMATION SYSTEM ENGINEERING FOR AN ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Diane Asensio, Abdelaziz Khadraoui and Michel Léonard

Information Systems (IS) of electricity distribution companies are often composed of various and heterogeneous applications or systems that need to exchange information. Distribution activities evolve in different contexts and environments, and the interoperability is a particular difficult task to realize for electricity distribution companies. A laws-based IS engineering approach is proposed in our research laboratory. Given the distribution activities are regulated by a legal framework, we propose to apply this approach to the electricity distribution domain.

AS-IS CONTINUOUS REPRESENTATION IN ORGANIZATIONAL ENGINEERING

Nuno Castela and José Tribolet

If the organizational model was a trustworthy and updated representation of the organizations, in all of its aspects and perspectives, it could be permanently used as support base to most operational and management tasks, using all its capacities for capturing, representing and distributing organizational knowledge. However, this model has been used mainly to support organizational activities isolated in time, instead of constitute a solid foundation to support the organizational daily activities, acting as an organizational knowledge repository. This fact result mainly of the difficulty to maintain the model updated and aligned with the reality. The research in organizational engineering is already mature in defining modeling artefacts, modelling languages and the necessary views to adequate the model to the users, promoting it usage in a continuous baseline. This paper propose a process to maintain the organizational as-is model updated. The strategy presented in this paper considers the organizational model as a representation of the organizational conscience, continuously aligned with the reality.

STRATEGIC INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION - DEFINITION OF AGGREGATED BUSINESS ENTITIES

Gianmario Motta and Giovanni Pignatelli

This paper presents a universal meta-model for Strategic Information Requirements Elicitation and a methodology to generate and use strategic information models. The framework fits the methodological gap that exists in the Strategic Information Requirements and supports the analyst in (a) define structured high level information requirements and (b) assess informational support from a variety of perspectives. The meta-model enhance the e-TOM Aggregate Business Entity concept by the adding the concepts of specialization and decomposition. The methodology uses several perspective to assure the robustness of information requirements, their coverage on the IT infrastructure and the ownership of information. Specifically the methodology includes various steps, namely the selection, customization, refinement and validation of the ABEs, evaluation of the informative support and sensitivity analysis. The model can be used for analysis, audit and strategic planning and may be leaned to CASE tools.

AUTOMATING TEST CASE GENERATION FOR REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION FOR PROCESSES ORCHESTRATING WEB SERVICES

Krzysztof Sapiecha and Damian Grela

The research concerns generation of test cases for processes defined in BPEL. In the paper it is showed that under some assumptions BPEL process may be considered as an embedded system in which tasks are like services and communication between tasks is like coordination of the services according to task graph of the system. Following this analogy a new method for automating test case generation for requirements specification for BPEL processes is given. An example illustrating the method is presented.